South East Farmer December 2020

®

Est 1982

December 2020

FEATURE AC HULME AND SONS

A major player in the top fruit world is continuing an ambitious expansion

REVIEW NATIONAL FRUIT SHOW LIVE! Hard-hitting speakers stressed the urgent need for answers at this year’s successful online show

NEWS “A LANDMARK MOMENT” COLUMNIST ADVICE FROM THE VET

Looking after the ewe at lambing time

OUT & ABOUT TEY BROOK FARM

A unique family run farm with a successful glamping and wedding events enterprise

Do You Let Your Farm Cottages?

Our ARLA qualified experts can manage them for you

DE C E M BE R 2 0 2 0

27 05 06 07 10

CONTENTS NEWS & REPORTS

Extending the scope of the TAC is “a landmark moment”.

Call for immediate clarity on seasonal workers.

AHDB Chief Executive steps down.

Farming charities focus on mental wellbeing.

REGULARS

16

MONICA AKEHURST

14

ANITA HEAD

18

A leap of faith to follow a dream.

Nigel visits a unique family run farm in Essex to find out more about a successful glamping and wedding events enterprise.

SARAH CALCUTT

46

MARKET REPORTS

43

48

51

ADVICE FROM THE VET NICK ADAMES

There are not many things we have to thank “this damned virus” for, but Nick has

52 55

27

33

AC HULME & SONS

Top fruit grower Tom Hulme on the need to keep ahead of the game and how he is going about it.

discovered one.

LEGAL

LAND AND FARMS

FEATURES

NATIONAL FRUIT SHOW LIVE! Hard-hitting speakers used the opening sessions of the virtual show to stress the urgent need for answers with just a few

OUT AND ABOUT

26

50

weeks to go before the Brexit deadline. Plus all the winners.

22

STEPHEN CARR ALAN WEST

Interesting times ahead. ®

www.southeastfarmer.net SOUTH EAST FARMER Kelsey Media, The Granary, Downs Court Yalding Hill, Yalding, Maidstone, Kent, ME18 6AL 01959 541444 EDITORIAL Editor: Malcolm Triggs Email: sef.ed@kelsey.co.uk Photography: Martin Apps, Countrywide Photographic PUBLISHER Jamie McGrorty 01303 233883 jamie.mcgrorty@kelsey.co.uk AD PRODUCTION Studio Manager: Jo Legg jo.legg@kelsey.co.uk Graphic Designer: James Pitchford TO ADVERTISE CALL 01303 233883

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Kelsey Media 2020 © all rights reserved. Kelsey Media is a trading name of Kelsey Publishing Ltd. Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden except with permission in writing from the publishers. Note to contributors: articles submitted for consideration by the editor must be the original work of the author and not previously published. Where photographs are included, which are not the property of the contributor, permission to reproduce them must have been obtained from the owner of the copyright. The editor cannot guarantee a personal response to all letters and emails received. The views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor or the Publisher. Kelsey Publishing Ltd accepts no liability for products and services offered by third parties.

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www.kelsey.co.uk Cover picture: AC Hulme & Sons © Martin Apps

OP IN IO N

Keep singing

4

Just over 80 years ago, on 31 October, 1940, the Battle of Britain ended, leaving the Royal Air Force victorious, Nazi plans to invade this island shelved and the country free to provide the launchpad for the retaking of mainland Europe in June 1944.

It was a victory that was undeniably achieved against the odds, thanks to the bravery of ‘the Few’, the strategic skills of those on the ground and the resilience of the population as a whole.

There are those who over-egg the nationalist pudding when looking back to 1940, claiming Britain ‘stood alone’ in its fight against Hitler and his invasion plans. It didn’t.

One look at the nationalities of the aircrew featured on the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall at the Battle of Britain Memorial just outside Folkestone in Kent proves that.

Two of the most successful squadrons in the Battle were Polish, while Josef Frantisek, reputed to be the top scoring pilot, was Czechoslovakian.

Eighty years on, though, there must be farmers and landowners who are starting to feel that if we didn’t stand alone then, we certainly do now. With the possibility of a no-deal Brexit looming large, real fears around the availability of overseas seasonal labour and worries about the possibility of imported foods undercutting UK standards, not to mention a global pandemic to fret over, life feels tough.

But there are positive signs. While not all the pressure groups are dancing in the streets just yet, the Government’s commitment to extend both the life and the remit of the Trade and Agriculture Commission and ask it to report on the impact of potential trade deals on animal welfare and agriculture has to be a positive step.

It is, after all, difficult to see much backtracking space in Liz Truss’ pledge that she will “never sign up to anything that threatens [farmers’] ability to compete, or that undermines their high standards”.

Farmers are a resilient crowd, at least in part because they see farming as a lifestyle, a family thing, part of their heritage, a duty to the next generation or the countryside as a whole rather than just as a means of earning a living.

They reflect the observation attributed to wartime leader Winston Churchill, who apparently didn’t actually say: “If you’re going through hell, keep going”, but who might well have done.

So, despite the weather, government indecision, volatile markets, the uncertainty of global politics, viruses and whatever else 2020 has yet to throw at the industry, farmers will no doubt continue to show their resourcefulness and business nous and do what is necessary to keep the country well fed and watered.

As French philosopher and writer Voltaire (16941778) once observed: “Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.”

- EDITOR MALCOLM TRIGGS

EMAIL YOUR VIEWS, LETTERS OR OPINIONS TO: sef.ed@kelsey.co.uk or write to the address on page 3 ®

STEADILY EXPANDING

Lister Wilder Ltd and Chandlers (Farm Equipment) Ltd have reached an agreement that will see each dealership continue to develop its primary franchise.

Both family companies have steadily expanded over the past 50 years and have grown around the Massey Ferguson, Fendt and Valtra franchises. Chandlers currently operates from seven depots, primarily covering Lincolnshire and the East Midlands, while Lister Wilder operates from eight bases across Oxfordshire and the South-Central region including Ashford in Kent.

Both businesses also partnered with Kubota for their commercial groundcare range of products to give a comprehensive offering across all tractor horsepower sectors, while Lister Wilder broadened its base further by encompassing Kubota construction machinery across the South East of England.

With the Kubota business playing such an important part in Lister Wilder’s £100m turnover and Chandlers keen to expand their fully focused AGCO operation in line with AGCO’s brand exclusivity strategy, an agreement has now been reached that allows both businesses to develop in line with the strategic goals of their primary franchises.

Chandlers will purchase the Lister Wilder AGCO Agricultural business, doubling the size of its operation and allowing the full line AGCO offering of Massey Ferguson and Fendt/Valtra brands to be distributed through focused channels.

At the same time, Lister Wilder will significantly expand its full line Kubota range of agricultural, groundcare and construction machinery across the south, making the companies two of the biggest dealerships in the UK for their respective partners.

In terms of the current Lister Wilder branches in the South East, from 4 January 2021, Chandlers will operate from the premises at Wallingford in Oxfordshire and Lister Wilder will continue to operate from Ashford in Kent, Guildford in Surrey and Reading in Berkshire.

In a statement on the Lister Wilder website, company chairman Jason Scott described the agreement as “a mutually beneficial and pragmatic solution to what would have become an extremely large problem – instead you will now be looked after and supported by the largest AGCO and Kubota dealerships in the country.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome or the professional and respectful way this has been handled by all parties.”

NEWS

“A LANDMARK MOMENT”

The Government’s announcement that it will be extending the scope of the Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC) and putting it on a statutory basis has been warmly welcomed by the NFU, which believes farmers, growers and the British public will share its view.

While one pressure group remains “unconvinced that the TAC genuinely promotes and protects British farming interests”, the union that represents the interests of British farming is more upbeat, with President Minette Batters calling it “a landmark moment”.

Welcoming the announcement that Secretary of State for Trade Liz Truss is to extend the commission’s remit beyond its previous fixed term and give it a more active role through a new legislative underpinning that will be reviewed every three years, the NFU pointed out that more than one million people had signed its food standards petition.

The commission was initially launched for a six-month period in July, but it has now been given the task of producing a report on the impact on animal welfare and agriculture of each free trade deal the government signs after the end of the EU transition period on 1 January.

The government said the move was part of its ambition to place farmers at the heart of its trade policy and would “allow Parliamentarians access to independent and expert advice when reviewing the impact of each trade deal”.

Meanwhile the TAC will continue with its current remit, which is to report on a number of issues including trade policies the Government should adopt “that ensure animal welfare, food production and environmental standards are not undermined” and on new export opportunities. The full report will be published in February and presented to Parliament.

Beef and arable farmer David Exwood, from Horsham in West Sussex, said the British public and farmers wanted to see the Government “stand up for our values and standards and not see them undermined in future trade deals”.

David, who is also the NFU’s South East Regional Board Chair, said the Government’s commitment was “an important step” and hoped that farmers in all sectors across the South East would continue to lead the way in sustainable, high welfare food production.

Liz Truss said: “As trade secretary, I want deals that deliver for British farmers and help them sell more brilliant produce around the world. I will never sign up to anything that threatens their ability to compete, or that undermines their high standards.

“The Trade and Agriculture Commission is an important part of our vision for a values-led and value-generating trade policy. It is about putting British farming at the heart of our trade agenda and ensuring the interests of farmers and consumers are promoted and advanced as we move closer to becoming an independent trading nation on 1 January.”

Ms Batters said: “This significant commitment to primary legislation on food standards, both in the Agriculture Bill and Trade Bill, is exactly what we have been calling for. It is a landmark moment for the people of the UK, for our countryside and the future of the food on our plates.

“It means everyone who cares about our trading relationships with the rest of the world – MPs, stakeholders and the public – will see independent expert advice from the Trade and Agriculture Commission on future trade deals before they are ratified.”

She said that at a recent meeting with Prime Minster Boris Johnson, “it was clear to me how much he personally cares about this issue”, adding: “I am

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delighted that he has led the Government to draw a line in the sand and follow the 2019 Conservative manifesto commitment not to undermine our farmers in future trade deals by ensuring the Trade and Agriculture Commission can report to Parliament and MPs can give proper scrutiny to future trade deals.”

RSPCA Chief Executive Chris Sherwood said his organisation also welcomed the Government’s announcement. “Making the Trade and Agriculture Commission statutory and extending its life for three years will meet the RSPCA’s requirements for an independent body with teeth that can represent the welfare of animals,” he said.

One pressure group, though, was less impressed. While Save British Farming welcomed the Government’s move, it warned that the TAC “does not deliver a failsafe route to protecting our food, animal welfare and environmental standards”.

The organisation added: “We believe the current government move could be a very deliberate effort to torpedo the Lords’ amendment to the Agriculture Bill which would see high standards enshrined in law.”

Liz Webster, founder of Save British Farming, said: “If this Government was committed to ensuring British farmers continue to feed the British people, they’d be delivering an Agriculture Bill that protected us from low standard imports. But in truth this bill turns our farmers into park keepers, and the concession on the Trade and Agriculture Commission is a baby step which is designed to try and placate campaigners.”

The group also pointed to a “lack of representation of environmental and animal welfare organisations in the TAC”, which it described as “a critical failing”, adding: “We cannot support any solution that relies on the TAC in its current format. We want food standards in law and a truly representative, truly empowered, body feeding into trade decision-making.”

Save British Farming has pledged to continue tractor events and processions through towns and markets and to distribute banners throughout the country.

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5

NEWS

IMMEDIATE CLARITY NEEDED

ON SEASONAL WORKERS

6

South East growers have backed the NFU’s call for the Government to ensure sufficient numbers of seasonal workers are allowed into the country from overseas to help gather in next year’s harvest.

The NFU has demanded “immediate clarity on how fruit, veg and flower businesses will be able to recruit seasonal workers next year” and has referenced an industry-wide survey showing that despite the widely publicised Pick for Britain campaign, UK residents made up only 11% of this year’s workforce.

NFU Vice President Tom Bradshaw said: “We are at a critical time in recruitment for many growers. As freedom of movement ends on December 31, those growers of iconic British daffodils, asparagus and soft fruits still don’t know where they will recruit experienced workers from.”

While this summer’s seasonal worker pilot scheme allowed 10,000 overseas workers to be recruited to help pick this year’s harvest, the UK is generally thought to need 80,000 to get the job done each year.

And while the Government is keen to see unemployed Brits – particularly those whose jobs were lost as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic – switch to fruit, flower and vegetable picking, growers just don’t see that as an option.

Alastair Brooks, of Langdon Manor Farm, Faversham, grows 1,450 tonnes of strawberries and raspberries a year for the domestic market and is convinced the idea is a non-starter.

“We just wouldn’t get a UK workforce of significant numbers or the right quality to harvest UK horticultural produce,” he agreed.

Alastair said he tried hard to recruit UK labour this summer when there was doubt about whether EU workers would be able to travel, and at the height of the Pick for Britain campaign.

Despite his efforts he only managed to recruit about 10% of his workforce locally, and very few of those stayed the course. “We recruited 30 and ended up with two,” he recalled.

“The problem is that British workers don’t like working outside. It’s something they’ve not done for a long time – it was back in the 80s when I last had a totally UK workforce. They think fruit picking will be fun - and it is - but it’s also quite hard and people find it difficult.”

Another South East grower who agrees that the domestic workforce is not the answer to the seasonal workforce issue is Tom Hulme, of

A C Hulme & Sons.

Tom has had a handful of real successful stories this year, with three young English people now playing an important role in his expanding fruit business at Hoaden Court Farm, Ash, but he sees those as exceptions to the rule.

“We took on 15 students in July this year in a positive effort to try to find a UK-centric solution to our labour issues,” he recalled. “After online interviews with 150, we had applications from 100, interviewed 50 and found our 15. By September, just three had stayed the course.

“The Covid-19 pandemic made people think about where they buy their food, and in that sense it gave UK growers a boost, but the idea that those who lost their jobs would replace foreign workers in our fields, orchards and packhouses is a non-starter.

That has been the wide experience this year of UK growers who have attempted to make use of Brits who were seeking work but wouldn’t normally have considered horticulture as a job.”

Alastair Brooks believes the situation is critical.

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

“The biggest threat to UK horticulture in decades is the loss of free movement of workers. The Home Office believes we can recruit internally but the whole industry knows we can’t.

“I don’t know where it will end, other than badly.

Starving the industry of affordable labour is a recipe for disaster. What’s more, the few thousand foreign workers who come here - and do a cracking job – support hundreds of thousands of UK workers in the supply chain, which makes restricting the number very short sighted.”

Tom Bradshaw explained: “The frustrating thing is that this situation is easily solved with the implementation of a seasonal worker scheme, building upon the pilot scheme that has already operated successfully for the past two seasons.

“If this is not in place by the beginning of the year, we would be the only developed country in the world without such a scheme. It would seem remarkable for the Government to take such a gamble when it will hit UK businesses at a time when economic recovery is paramount.”

NEWS

The chief executive of the under-fire Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has announced plans to step down, and will leave the organisation by next September at the latest.

A statement from the AHDB said Jane King “plans to have a break with her family next year before continuing to support the industry in other ways in the future”. Recruitment of a new CEO “will begin immediately and there will be a handover period before Jane leaves to ensure a smooth transition,” the statement said.

The organisation Ms King has headed up for nearly six years recently agreed to ballot its members on the continuation of a statutory levy in horticulture following months of wrangling over its future.

Opposition to the levy was led by three Lincolnshire growers, known as the AHDB Petitioners, who collectively grow potatoes, vegetables and flowers and have a combined turnover of £20 million.

Peter Thorold, John Bratley and Simon Redden collected 107 formal requests for a ballot and also released data from a survey of almost 2,000 levypayers from the AHDB’s horticulture and potatoes sectors which they said showed the majority of growers viewed the organisation as “outdated and unwanted”.

The AHDB had already committed to a new strategy and improved communication with levy payers on how their money is spent in response to a Government-led ‘request for views’ published earlier this year.

Together with an agreement to hold a regular ballot on the AHDB levy and how it is spent, a review of the levy system for potatoes and horticulture and a review of AHDB’s board and committee structure, Chair Nicholas Saphir said the changes showed it was “committed to some key reforms to ensure we are fit for purpose in the changing times British agriculture is facing”.

Nicholas, who was appointed in April, underlined the importance of AHDB’s new five-year strategy, which will focus on market development and farm performance.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

STEPS DOWN

“Our fantastic work during Covid-19 showed AHDB is at its very best in responding quickly to the needs of farmers, growers and the supply chain at a time of crisis, and we were able to clearly demonstrate the value we add for our levy payers,” he said.

“Our industry is about to undergo significant change driven by a new direction in trade and agriculture policies, as well as shifting consumer demands. Farming and supply chain businesses will need to compete with the best in the world, drawing on the latest insight to improve farm performance, grow market opportunities and meet environmental goals.”

AHDB has also pledged to review and update the levy calculations for horticulture and potatoes, which are based on business turnover in

horticulture and hectares planted in potatoes, and were in place before AHDB was formed in 2008.

Nicholas said: “This is a piece of work which has been in train for some time, and we are very aware of the current strength of feeling in these sectors.

We are working with growers to see how we can design a more modern system.”

Announcing Ms King’s decision to stand down, the AHDB said that with the five-year strategy and business plans “nearly complete” and the change programme underway, she felt it was “a good time to begin to hand the leadership baton over to someone fresh to deliver the next phase of AHDB’s development”.

The statement added: “In the meantime, Jane will work closely with the chair, the Board and the leadership team to continue to reform AHDB in line with the commitments we have made to improve levy-payer engagement and value for money.

“Jane’s focus will continue to be on leading the strategic change programme. This includes consulting with industry on the new strategy, developing the business plans and new programmes, progressing action on our response to the request for views and continuing to deliver real positive impact for industry.”

Ms King said: “It has been a great privilege to lead an incredible team at AHDB and to work with inspirational farmers, growers and partners to deliver our programmes and services. The commitment and dedication of AHDB colleagues has been amazing.

“I have the comfort of knowing that together we have achieved a good deal and AHDB will go from strength to strength under fresh leadership.”

POTATO CAMPAIGN

Away from the debate over the future of the organisation, the AHDB reminded millions of consumers about the versatility and health benefits of potatoes during a three-month lockdown marketing campaign earlier this year.

From May to July, AHDB brought back its Bud the Spud character to encourage consumers to rethink the way they saw potatoes in a continuation of the organisation’s More Than a Bit on the Side campaign. “We had a challenge to turn around a campaign to help the sector during lockdown, when time was of the essence and the potato sector was feeling the impact of the closure of foodservice and restaurants,” said Rob Clayton, Strategy Director for Potatoes.

The website www.lovepotatoes.co.uk received over 200,000 visits as a result of the campaign and retail potato sales outperformed the average increase in food sales seen during lockdown.

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7

NEWS

THE

SCHEME

INITIATIVE PROVES SUCCESSFUL

8

A year on from the launch of The Green Tractor Scheme, aimed at increasing the volume and quality of plastic recycled from farms, figures suggest the initiative is already proving successful.

One of the purposes of the scheme, launched last November and supported by virtually all of the UK’s farm plastic collectors and all of the biggest independent operators, is to provide audited totals of the quantity of plastic collected and recycled from UK farms.

The first survey, covering about 80% of Green Tractor Scheme members, shows that while 19,974 tonnes of plastic was collected in 2018, a total of 24,149 tonnes was collected in 2019, an increase of more than 20%. Most of the plastic was sent for recycling, with just 4% going to landfill.

Mark Webb, Chairman of UK Farm Plastic Responsibility Scheme (UKFPRS) Ltd, owners of The Green Tractor Scheme, commented: “The year-on-year rise in the figures is encouraging when you take into account the considerable difficulties in the recycling markets over the past couple of years. “We are not complacent and know there is more plastic to collect. Our biggest challenge, and the one thing that holds all of our members back, remains the woeful lack of overall recycling capacity in the UK. We can collect the material but, if it’s not to be landfilled, it has to have recycling facilities to go to�.

The scheme offers the supply chain assistance with corporate responsibility in relation to plastics they put into the market. Collector members are talking to government and other bodies about the need to increase recycling capacity in the UK to cope with the increasing plastic supply.

The Scheme, which is open to all UK farm plastic collectors, operates on a not for profit basis and is funded by the collectors. There is no additional cost to farmers and no levy on new plastic products.

HELIX CONCEPT

ROLLED OUT

Hutchinsons is rolling out its Helix farm concept to regional centres, starting with the Helix East farm, near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, and launching sites in north and central England later this year.

Hutchinsons’ national Helix site, which was launched in the summer of 2019, is hosted by Andrew and William Pitts, of JW Pitts & Sons, at Mears Ashby at Whiston in Northamptonshire. The new Helix East operation is being hosted by Tom Jewers, of GD Jewers & Son, at Wood Hall Farm in Rattlesden.

Hutchinsons’ Head of Technology and Innovation Stuart Hill pointed out that in a time of change, farm businesses “need to remain financially profitable and sustainable�, which means agronomists and growers “will require new technologies and practices that allow them to become increasingly more efficient and adaptable�.

He went on: “The most important question is whether or not these technologies have a benefit at farm level. Are they affordable and practical and do they improve productivity and profitability? “At the very core of the Helix Farms approach is a proofing process to ensure that technologies offering this added value are tested thoroughly on

> Tom Jewers and Agronomist Mike Greener

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

farm. This includes looking at any potential further development to simplify and integrate them into practical everyday use.�

Work conducted at the national site has already seen the launch of tools such as TerraMap, the highest resolution soil mapping system available, the Omnia precision climate module, a BYDV prediction model and, later this year, a rotational planning tool and a carbon mapping tool.

Hutchinsons’ Helix East co-ordinator and crop nutrition specialist Rob Jewers will work closely with Tom across all of the focus areas. “Everything that we are doing on the Helix sites will link closely to integrated crop management (ICM) as we know that this will be a key requirement for future farming systems, and we are able to trial and test them within this context, which is a really valuable output,� he explained.

Tom said he was particularly interested in how he can use technology to make sure he is ahead of the game when the ELM scheme comes into force. “As we move to public money for public goods, I need to know what my best options are, so now is the time to test these,� he said. “If I know what works for me, we will be ‘match fit’ by the time ELM is rolled out.�

R OA D

RE-ENDING HOSES

NOT THE ANSWER

Saving money by ‘re-ending’ hoses can cause life-changing injuries, an industry expert has warned.

Nigel Thomason, British Fluid Power Association Distributor Chairman, condemned the practice at the launch of the association’s Choose Q for Quality campaign highlighting the need to use BFPA Approved Quality Members.

“The pandemic has us all under extra strain and I know that many company owners or workers across the agriculture industry will be looking for ways to save money – but re-ending hoses to save a few pounds is not the answer,” he commented, adding that approved suppliers would “categorically refuse” to re-end hose.

The BFPA points out that hydraulic hoses are subject to all types of weather conditions and can be accidentally damaged onsite. A pinhole leak in a hose can eject fluid at speeds in excess of 180m (600 feet) per second, almost as fast as a bullet, if it’s under high pressure.

It’s normal for fluid to be under pressure at 2,000 PSI (168 Bar) in a hydraulic hose on a farming vehicle, and it can be as much as 6,000 PSI (414 Bar). A typical car tyre, by comparison, is inflated to around 32 PSI. “Oil under this much pressure will go straight through protective clothing, pierce the skin and can lead to severe, life-changing injuries from just one tiny looking pin prick,” the BFPA warns.

“Re-ending hoses is a dangerous practice which can lead to fatal injuries – ultimately you’re taking a chance with a liquid bullet,” Mr Thomason continued.

“Cost is the biggest driver in re-ending, but it’s the integrity of the whole assembly that’s ruined when you do that, not just the end of a hose. Re-ending increases the risk of failure and is never covered by the hose manufacturer’s warranty, so it really is a false economy.”

CENTRE STAGE IN CHINA

Red meat and dairy products from the UK will take centre stage in China this month at one of Asia’s leading food and drink trade shows.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) will showcase this country’s high quality beef and pork, together with a selection of cheese, at FHC China, where more than 2,500 exhibitors from around the world will gather at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre.

For 24 years, the three-day event has been the leading trade show for international companies looking to expand into the Chinese market, which is continuously evolving as both the country’s economy and its middle-class consumer base grows.

Because of international travel restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, AHDB’s stand will be hosted by China-based representative Holly Chen, who provides support across the AHDB sectors in partnership with the China Britain Business Council (CBBC). She will be joined at the event by a number of existing UK exporters who have teams in China.

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03/11/2020 10:15

NEWS

10

Two farming charities are focusing on mental health as the winter adds gloomy, cold and dark days to the pressures that farmers are already facing.

After a difficult year, and with more upheaval and uncertainty ahead, The Farming Community Network (FCN) is urging agricultural workers in England and Wales not to suffer in silence as the industry enters one of the most challenging periods it has ever faced.

FCN is highlighting its confidential national Helpline (03000 111 999) and e-Helpline (help@ fcn.org.uk), open every day of the year from 7am to 11pm. The service is operated by more than 400 volunteers who are from farming backgrounds and understand farming pressures.

Encouraging anyone experiencing feelings of isolation, anxiety or other concerns to call or email for a confidential chat, the charity pointed out that nearly half of all calls made to it over the past four months had been related to mental health, frequently the most common factor in calls from members of the farming community.

Callers have referred to stress and anxiety caused by issues such as financial concerns, family relationship problems, Brexit uncertainty and Covid19, which was mentioned as a factor by 56% of all callers in April this year.

Mark Thomas, FCN’s Helpline Manager and Regional Director for the South of England, said mental health and wellbeing had overtaken financial difficulties as the most common factor in calls received.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has affected many farmers and their businesses and 2020 has also brought a range of other challenges, such as flooding and drought in different parts of the UK, poor crop yields and concerns about the short and long term effects post-Brexit rural policy may have on the industry. All of these heighten feelings

FOCUS ON MENTAL

WELLBEING of stress and anxiety and put pressure on family relationships.”

Meanwhile farming charity RABI has also launched an online wellbeing support and counselling service for farmers. The charity has said the confidential platforms available via the RABI website at www.rabi. org.uk are part of its “ambitious strategy to increase the charity’s reach to a much broader demographic within the farming community”.

The initiative features two distinct sites – www.Qwell.io/rabi is for adults and www.Kooth.com/rabi is designed to help those aged 11 to 17. They are carefully tailored towards farming sector-specific challenges and also provide

A £10,000 prize is set to boost research into the genetics behind wool quality and is expected ultimately to benefit sheep farmers across the UK. The Worshipful Company of Woolmen and the Company of the Merchants of the Staple of England have awarded a 2020 Wool Innovation Prize to sheep farmers and partners Robert Hodgkins and Joanna Franklin.

Rob and Jo, who have a herd of 2,500-plus New Zealand Romneys, have been using DNA testing to find genomic markers identifying which sheep have the best weight of fleece and the best quality wool.

Their aim is to improve the whole Romney flock and ultimately give other sheep farmers the opportunity to incorporate these genetic traits to allow them to sell a better quality and quantity of wool.

While sheep farmers are currently struggling with rock bottom prices for wool, Rob, who recently featured in South East Farmer when he was named as a member of the high-powered Trade and Agriculture Commission, is convinced that the product has a future and wants to make sure the industry is ready to take advantage of the upturn when it comes.

“It’s a natural material with a wide range of benefits, and at a time when the oceans are littered with plastic waste we really should be turning to wool for

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

a route to one-to-one counselling support from BACP-recognised, qualified professionals.

“We know that farmers have continued to face exceptionally difficult times,” said Alicia Chivers, RABI’s Chief Executive. “Managing mental wellbeing and maintaining good mental health has emerged as one of the most significant issues facing our sector, which is already known for its higher than average levels of stress, depression, anxiety, and suicide.”

RABI has also appointed the University of Exeter to conduct a once-in-a-generation survey of farming people “to better understand mental and physical wellbeing issues facing people in agriculture”. It will begin early next year.

£10,000 PRIZE

the sake of the environment,” he said. “It’s compostable, non-toxic, warm, dry, insulating and has many other benefits. I am convinced it will prove its worth and farmers need to be ready to meet the demand that will follow.”

The £10,000 grant will fund the analysis of a further 900 DNA samples by Zoetis in New Zealand. Rob has been doing DNA sampling of Romney ewes since 2013 and has led the way ever since.

“The prize is an incredible boost to our work, and we are very grateful for the generosity of the two livery companies,” said Rob, who farms at Kaiapoi Farm in Hertfordshire. “We sell hundreds of rams a year, so our work will ultimately benefit the whole industry as a result of better genetics.”

Robert Hall, Chairman of the Staple’s charitable trust, commented: "We are delighted to award Robert and Jo our 2020 Wool Innovation Award, which we hope can help improve the quality of UK wool. They have exciting plans in the pipeline, and we are immensely proud to support them both.”

Julian Barnes, managing director of Biddenden Vineyards, has agreed to be the first President of The Vineyard Show, being held at the Kent Event Centre at Detling, near Maidstone, next November.

With grape growing and winemaking playing an increasingly important part in the rural economy, and many farmers taking advantage of the South East’s changing climate to plant the vines that can be used to create award-winning English sparkling wine, the show is set to become a major event in the rural calendar.

The show, planned for 24 November 2021, is being staged by South East Farmer publisher Kelsey Media, which also publishes Vineyard magazine.

An impressive team of organisers is being led by Event Director Sarah Calcutt, who is also a regular contributor to this magazine.

The announcement of Julian Barnes as president has given another boost to the event, which will bring together producers, growers, winemakers and suppliers, allowing them to exchange ideas, discover new products and celebrate English winemaking.

Having grown up on the vineyard started by his parents Richard and Joyce Barnes in 1969, Julian’s experience in the industry is second to none, while his vice-chairmanship of the Kent County Agricultural Society places him at the heart of the wider farming world.

He is keen to play an active part in the show and is determined to be president in more than name only. “I am keen to make sure the show is interesting to as wide an audience as possible and

SHOW TAKES SHAPE reflects the importance of viticulture to this part of the world over a long period,” he said.

Biddenden Vineyard bottled its first wine in 1972, the same year in which it first planted Pinot Noir grapes and Ortega, for which it has now become famed and which now accounts for around 50% of its output.

“I was honoured to be asked to take on the role of President of The Vineyard Show, and after a true lifetime’s involvement in the industry I am looking forward to playing my part in what I am sure will be a great success,” Julian concluded.

The show will be supported by a number of top name sponsors. They include land, property and environmental consultants CLM, Machinery dealer Vitifruit, which supplies a broad range of outdoor equipment for vineyards across the UK, leading vineyard agronomy company Hutchinsons and longestablished packaging company bruni erben.

Matthew Berryman of CLM explained: “The Vineyard Show will be a great platform for all sections of our industry – from growers and would-be investors to wine makers, agronomists and the trade – to come together in one place.

“There’ll be a host of exhibitors and a fascinating

> Julian Barnes with his wife Sally seminar programme, making this a great place to network and hear the latest news and views “It’s also a perfect opportunity to keep up to date with new technical advice, market trends and government policies, not to mention tasting some of the wonderful wine produced in this country.”

Stop Press: As South East Farmer went to press, Royston Labels was confirmed as the fifth and final major sponsor of the show.

BETTER CHICKEN COMMITMENT An Oxfordshire producer has become the latest to sign up to the Better Chicken Commitment, a move that has been welcomed by campaign group Animal Equality.

P.D. Hook (Hatcheries) Ltd, which operates throughout the UK but is headquartered near Bampton, said it had had “productive dialogue” with the group.

The Better Chicken Commitment aims to reduce the suffering of chickens used for meat by addressing some of the most serious welfare concerns raised by animal protection organisations, welfare specialists, veterinarians and academics.

It calls on companies to eliminate fast-growing breeds, high stocking densities and outdated slaughter methods from their supply chains by 2026 and has already been adopted by more than 300 companies worldwide, including Compass Group, KFC, Nando’s, Papa John’s, Unilever and Waitrose.

P.D. Hook, the fourth largest chicken producer in the UK, joins a growing number of producers that have pledged to meet demand for meat that adheres to the Better Chicken Commitment criteria.

Animal Equality, which has repeatedly exposed severe animal suffering on a number of intensive farms, welcomed the move. Michelle Baxter Wickham, Corporate Outreach Manager, said: “It was clear from the first meeting with P.D. Hook (Hatcheries) Ltd. that they were onboard with the Better Chicken

TO ADVERTISE CALL 01303 233883

Commitment and they are already producing birds to this standard.”

She called for “similar decisive action from UK market leaders, including McDonald’s and Tesco, who are running out of excuses not to commit, particularly given the increase in producer pledges and company commitments in the UK and throughout the rest of Europe”.

Farm and Equine

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11

NEWS

LOOK OUT FOR NEW LOGO

12

New Geographical Indications (GI) rules and logos to protect British food and drink have been revealed by DEFRA. The scheme is set to guarantee the authenticity of regional and traditional foods for shoppers and safeguard British producers from imitation, protecting the integrity of everything from Scotch Whisky to Welsh lamb The new scheme will replace the EU’s schemes at the end of the transition period, with the Government promising that the new and independent schemes will involve a simplified application process.

According to DEFRA, GIs are “highly valued by producers and are exemplars of the wide range of quality British products enjoyed around the world”. They represent around a quarter of UK food and drink exports by value and were worth around £6bn in export value in 2019.

Bale Baron UK, a family business run by brothers Nicholas and Jonathan Scrase, has announced a new partnership with Duvelsdorf, a German company that manufactures a wide range of grassland maintenance equipment Bale Baron started trading in 2010 after the Scrase brothers identified a market for a reliable small bale packer. With the support of Nick Waymark and Gordan (Sid) Smith as technicians, the company has expanded rapidly, selling more than 40 machines in the first five years.

After concentrating on small bales with the Bale Baron, the company expanded the product to include Agreto moisture meters, the Harvest Tec range of acid applicators and the high capacity automatic Inagra small bale wrapper. The company also sells the full range of McHale mowers, balers, rakes and wrappers.

Bale Baron has also taken on the Solis tractor

The three UK GI logos indicate: • Protected designation of origin (PDO) • Protected geographical indication (PGI) • Traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG) Registered producers of British food, drink and agricultural GI products have until 1 January 2024 to change their packaging to display the new UK GI logos.

Rare Breeds Survival Trust Chief Executive Christopher Price welcomed the continuation of the scheme, but warned: “As administered by the EU, the scheme has been cumbersome and difficult for producers to take advantage of. Going forwards we need to ensure it is more accessible so as to bring greater benefits for consumers and native breed farmers alike.”

NEW PARTNERSHIP dealership for Sussex, Surrey and Kent and has now become the UK distributor for Duvelsdorf, which has been operating for more than 90 years and over four generations.

Bale Baron is currently demonstrating the Rake-Roller combination, bringing together the Green Rake Expert and Terra Roller Expert to create a multi-talented tool for grassland and arable land that allows one user to level, harrow, overseed and roll in one pass. The two products can also be used independently.

The Green Rake Expert can be adjusted to suit any soil, with individual 1.5m wide tine sections with parallelogram guidance providing optimum adjustment to ground contours.

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

Pre-tensioned springs mean the roller delivers an even ground pressure over the entire working width, while the toothed roller allows better seed to soil contact.

The seeder can be mounted on either the harrows or the roller and can be retrofitted at any time. The Seed.con control module is compatible with all seeders and can be used with a smartphone, tablet or isobus terminal.

In November Bale Baron will be running a competition to win a brand new Duvelsdorf Transport box absolutely free. Check out their instagram for more information instagram @balebaron_uk

“With the differing crop conditions over the last two seasons we can now confidently say it’ll do at least 20% more than the old combine, if not more.”

Richard Ledger, LEXION 8900 TT, Kent, August 2020.

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ANITA HEAD ORGANISED CHAOS

LIFE GOES BY IN A FLASH 14

Finding the time to put pen to paper, or should I say fingers to the keyboard, is becoming increasingly difficult. Lockdown* seems in the dim and distant past as life seems to go by in a flash at 100mph! Half term has come and gone and we now find ourselves focusing on the Christmas holidays and staff rotas… We really are truly fortunate to have amazing staff and two incredibly hardworking boys who both love farming.

Christmas will be incredibly quiet in our household this year as we are “a bubble of six”. I say quiet; with an over-exuberant nearly four year-old in the house it will never be quiet. Facetime and Zoom calls from around the world will have to suffice.

With my brother and his family in America and my sister and her family in Belgium, it is amazing to link up and play games etc via the internet. The only inconvenience is the time difference.

Tina turkey is now residing in the freezer.

Amazon will be my new best friend, although some would comment that it is already, with or without Christmas. Ted has decided that a new battery for his Gator is all he needs for Christmas; it apparently doesn’t go fast enough now and a new battery will make all the difference. Oh to be three again. He has become rather useful with his driving skills in rounding up the sheep, although racing the dog up the drive is a challenge too far.

Winter is now upon us and I secretly find myself wishing for a cold frosty winter rather than a wet one. I love to see the dung steaming out in the cattle yards on a frosty morning. Unfortunately, as I write this rain is falling in copious amounts – again.

By the time you sit down to read this, the race to the “White House” will be a distant memory. For the UK it would appear that we have a lot riding on these results. If Trump is returned, then my feeling is that this will give Boris and his gang much needed

encouragement to pursue a no-deal Brexit. They will be confident that they have an ally across the pond to help in obtaining some kind of trade deal that is so desperately needed.

Whether this is good for the UK or our industry remains unanswered. If there is a change in leadership in the US then I think we could see some rapid negotiations with the EU. Biden has a very different view of the UK leaving the EU, has a close affinity with the Good Friday agreement and does not want anything that in his view would damage that; a no-deal Brexit cannot give the assurances he seeks. Indeed there are some in the Democratic party who would place a deal with the EU ahead of the UK, figuratively leaving Boris with his trousers around his ankles.

After sitting down and studying the voting strategy for the amendments to the Agriculture Bill, I find myself disgusted at our local MPs. One of these amendments was a condition designed to ensure that the food imported into the UK would have to meet the standards applied to food produced in the UK following Brexit. The amendment was voted down. The majority of our local MPs voted against it. This has led to widespread criticism from some people that the move will open the flood gates for poor standard food coming into the country. This will also affect the livelihood of farmers.

UK farmers have to adhere to exceedingly high production standards. Could this lead to lower quality meat products coming into the UK? This includes chlorinated chicken, which is currently not allowed into the UK. Some MPs have broken promises to farmers by not upholding high food standards. George Eustice MP was quoted as saying: “We already have the legal powers to protect our food standards and animal welfare, so the amendment tabled was not necessary. As farming

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

minister I ensured that our manifesto had a clear commitment to protect and uphold animal welfare standards in future trade deals and to ensure our farmers are not undermined by unfair competition.”

So where does that leave UK farmers?

Not that this ‘say one thing, do another’ scenario is confined to the House of Commons. We also find it in the House of Lords, where Baroness Neville Rolfe also voted against the amendment. This good lady, who I criticised in one of my very first articles for taking out of the industry far more than she puts in, is head of the Assured Food standards (owners of Red Tractor), and there she is voting to potentially lower food standards. The hypocrisy in her action I find overwhelming, a classic example of fat cat thoughtlessness; take the wad of money that comes with the job, do nothing to help the people she is supposed to represent and then retire on the pension, leaving the guys on the front line shafted… thanks very much. I for one will not be sorry to see the back of her, although unfortunately that just leaves the seat vacant for the next parasite to start feeding off our industry.

The government assures us that it has our best interests at heart. I am not sure whether to laugh or cry at this statement. I just don’t believe it. One can only hope that it is all part of the brinkmanship that goes into trade negotiations at this level; my fear, though, is that as an industry our numbers are now so small that we are effectively an irrelevance. Time will tell how we fare. *Editor’s note – column submitted before the second ‘lockdown’ was announced.

ANITA HEAD Farmer

15

TAKING PLACE ONLINE from 7-9pm on Wednesday 11 November In January 2019, the NFU boldly stated their ambition to achieve net zero for agriculture by 2040 – 10 years earlier than the Government’s own target. For agriculture this is a complex picture as the industry is a significant source of emissions, while equally has the ability to offer impactful solutions to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

For a sector so reliant on chemicals – from fertilisers, to pesticides, and diesel, we will be discussing just how radical we will have to be to deliver net zero by 2040.

This year the South of England Agricultural Society’s Farming Conference will take place online.

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Doug Wanstall Farmer and Nuffield Scholar

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MONICA AKEHURST AT THE KITCHEN TABLE

A LEAP OF FAITH

16

My youngest daughter tells me that scrambling over rocks, jumping off cliffs and swimming around the Pembrokeshire coast is more fun than farming; I’m not convinced myself. I must work on my persuasive skills; we didn’t gain extra labour but ended up looking after her dog. Apparently terriers are no good at coast-steering. This one isn’t particularly good at ratting either.

Daughter returned from holiday bearing a gift in the form of a bar of soap enclosed in felted wool. The labelling extolled its virtues, reading “No flannels. No mess. Just gentle exfoliation. Felted soap lasts longer than normal soap and the 100% wool casing not only acts as a lather enhancer but shrinks with use, keeping the soap attractive right to the end”. I can vouch that it lasts longer; we’ve been using it since August. It’s changed shape but not size. I reckon it could win a longevity award. It was suggested that this would be a novel way of using wool, but I doubt we’ll be converting our wool clip to exfoliators anytime soon.

If you haven’t already done so, please consider signing the online petition, British Wool for British Insulation and Carpeting. More signatures are needed. Wool is such a great product, it deserves more recognition and better returns for producers.

Speaking of British products, the update about The Pevensey Cheese Company is that two-and-a-half years after its inception, the first batch of cheese has been despatched, invoiced and is on sale in cheesemongers, deli’s and restaurants across the UK. It’s taken a lot of hard work, trials and tribulations but Hazel (middle daughter) and Martin are pleased to announce that Pevensey Blue is now available to buy. Farm-gate purchases can be arranged via Instagram @pevenseycheese.

Martin has relentlessly pursued his dream to make cheese. Taking a

> Nigel talking turkey

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

leap of faith in May 2018 he left his job with Neal’s Yard Dairy selling cheese in Borough Market. He then took a part time job in Somerset learning the craft of making cheese, Caerphilly and pitchfork cheddar. Meanwhile he researched how to go about designing functional cheese making facilities.

Hazel and Martin applied for, and secured, planning permission and Leader grant funding to create the cheese rooms on our farm. Kitchen table talk revolved around plotting suitable layouts, storage space and packing room requirements.

Court Lodge Farm, in the same parish as us, agreed to supply organic milk for this venture. Hazel and Martin then had to evolve a recipe with the aim of creating a soft blue cheese. In June 2018, with milk collected in a churn, their first trial batch of cheese was made in our granny annex. Weekends were spent experimenting, and cheeses at various stages of maturity (and quality) started to appear in our fridge. A designated cheese fridge was purchased.

The cheese rooms were built and equipment installed, and in October 2019 the first larger batches of cheese were made in the new premises.

Our farmhouse became less dominated by cheese, and happily there’s now room to chill alcohol again. Martin gave up his job in the West Country to concentrate on progressing the Pevensey Cheese Company. The environmental health officer expressed concern about the proximity of the cheese rooms to our working farm, so we put in concrete panels to divide it off. Finally an EC mark and number was obtained. After much tasting, finetuning and consultations, they’ve nailed it. Don’t take my word for it, though – give it a try.

I’ve been impressed by how embracing and encouraging the cheese community has been towards newcomers. I’d like to think that farmers are similarly supportive to new entrants. Farming is not the easiest route

to choose, but it does have its rewards and established farmers should be prepared to help the youngsters. Newbies bring different approaches which can be refreshing. Passing on skills can be fun and I hope I never consider myself too old to learn or become too contrary to share. Contributing in some way to the success of others can be a good vibe.

The clocks have changed and it’s raining. Autumn calving has started. I feel sympathy for the calves that are experiencing a rather soggy start to life; it’s miserable but not cold yet and they appear happy so long as they’ve had their fill of colostrum. Our rams are getting frisky and annoyingly have taken to scrapping. We’ve had to remove one who sustained a nasty wound to his head.

They haven’t got long to wait before they can get to work. I’ve gone through my ewes and tried to cull hard. I find this easier said than done, but numbers have been reduced with no replacements for the second year running.

Corn is in the ground; grass seed is growing. We managed to snatch one last crop of silage. It won’t win any prizes for nutritional content, but it’ll help

to bolster our winter supplies. The rivers are filling up and we’ve more grass now than we’ve had for a long time. We’re getting the sheds ready to house cattle, but won’t rush to get them in. Our annual TB test is booked. Some hedges have been cut but there’s still more to do.

Nigel and I enjoyed a visit to check out our prospective Christmas dinner at Meadow Brook Farm, which produces quality free range traditional turkeys (www.sheffieldfarms.co.uk). When Nigel got his camera out, he was quickly surrounded by some incredibly vain and inquisitive birds. I’d forgotten how nosy and noisy turkeys can be. It’s good to appreciate the preparation and hard work that goes into producing happy, healthy birds that ultimately taste delicious on Christmas Day. ‘Prepare early for Christmas’, was the advice on the news today. I’m a lastminute person myself; other half commented: “We’d better get some booze in, then.” Well, I’m not going to argue with that, but I’m not entirely sure that’s what the newscaster meant.

> Soap enclosed in felted wool

> Cheese rooms on a sunny day > Sorting ewes, teeth, bags and feet

> Giving ewes a mineral bolus

> First of the autumn calvers

> Separating the cheese rooms from the farm TO ADVERTISE CALL 01303 233883

> Noisy and nosy

WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

17

OUT AND ABOUT WITH NIGEL AKEHURST

EXPERIMENT

PROVES A SUCCESS This month Nigel visits a unique family run farm in Essex to find out more about a successful glamping and wedding events enterprise.

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The past few years have seen a massive increase in demand for glamping. The global market size for this sector reached $2.1 billion in 2018 and is projected to grow at 12.5% until 2025. It is no wonder that many UK farmers looking for additional income are taking advantage of this growing trend.

Archie and Nat Browning are no exception, and after leaving university in 2012 they could see a new farm diversification project which they hoped would allow them to earn a living from the family farm

working under their own steam.

Tey Brook Farm is a 400-acre organic farm located in the village of Great Tey, just six miles south-west of Colchester, Essex, and is still run by Richard Browning, the fourth generation to farm the land.

The brothers were fortunate enough to be able to utilise a small unused meadow and then expand into woodland on the farm that Richard planted after the devastation of the 1987 hurricane under the Woodland Grant Scheme.

They began with three bell tents, erected over the summer holidays, to see if there was any interest.

Their experiment proved to be a success which they largely attribute to the farm’s close proximity to London.

The glamping site, known as Teybrook Orchard,

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

now consists of ten dwellings which include a genuine shepherd’s hut, purchased by their grandfather approximately 70 years ago, and a converted grain silo that was moved from the farmyard to the woodland by Richard as a folly for his own use. Little did he know it would be instrumental in a successful farm diversification enterprise.

Additional accommodation includes four Mongolian yurts and bell tents. Bookings can be made through their website www.browningbros.co.uk.

CHALKNEY WATER MEADOWS WEDDING VENUE

As well as glamping, the brothers were keen to tap into the UK weddings market, a £10 billion industry.

TEY BROOK FARM, ESSEX

As a side business from the farm, they were hiring out music equipment, luxury mobile toilets and generators for weddings and other private events around the county. After spending many hours delivering and collecting equipment from other venues, the brothers soon considered exploring the possibility of bringing events to the farm.

“We realised that our main asset was the land that our family are lucky enough to own and as a result we came up with the idea of ‘wild weddings’; offering an alternative outdoor space to the abundance of conventional and traditional venues in the county,” said Archie.

“Our weddings also allow couples to celebrate over the course of a weekend, giving them the chance to celebrate with family and friends as >>

> Archie Browning in front of one of their bell tents

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FARM FACTS

• 400 acre organic farm run by the Browning family.

• Crops include 25 acres of quinoa, 100 acres of wheat, 25 acres of hemp, 50 acres of barley, 50 acres of borage and 50 acres of grass clover leys. The rest is made up of woodland and permanent pasture - water meadows and orchard.

• Archie and Nat Browning run Browning Bros., established in 2012 on the farm, comprised of two separate sites.

• Office lets and workshops – office space ranges from 1,000 to 6,000 sq ft.

• Holiday lets.

TO ADVERTISE CALL 01303 233883

WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

OUT AND ABOUT WITH NIGEL AKEHURST << opposed to the more conventional wedding which often feels rushed and over too quickly,” he continued.

As an outdoor venue, of course, the brothers know their limits, not least with the weather, and therefore the venue operates between May and September, at which point the site is dismantled and put into storage for winter. This allows time for them to rest and make both new plans and improvements for the forthcoming season.

I asked Archie what he loved best about their business. “I think the most enjoyable part of our business is that we have a blank canvas here to be as creative as we like. We are spoilt to be able to earn a living from the land that we call home and it is exciting to have the opportunity to maximise every aspect of the farm to its optimum potential that works not just financially but in a way that is both sustainable and regenerative,” he replied.

CABINS

The brothers have two cabins on the lake site which are available to let all year round. The first cabin, Water Lily Lodge, was granted permission in 1987 but not in fact completed until recently, when Archie and Nat felt it would be perfect accommodation for the bridal party from the wedding venue.

The second cabin, Kingfisher’s Nest, was built with the help of Rural Development LEADER funding, which covered 40% of the build cost. It is a contemporary design with a luxury finish inside. They finished building the cabin during lockdown and it has been very popular since, something they attribute to the boom in ‘staycations’ this summer.

PLANNING

Intrigued to learn more about the planning side of their business, I asked Archie what their experience of working with their local council had been.

“On the whole, pretty tough - planning for the glamping site was reasonably

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DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

TEY BROOK FARM, ESSEX straightforward because Great Tey parish council was largely very supportive of our venture.

“In contrast, the planning for the wedding site was very difficult, which was largely a result of issues around noise pollution, and there has been a great deal of blood, sweat and tears obtaining permission for this venture, which was finally won on appeal.”

The brothers are now able to host a total of 12 weddings over the course of the season, with a curfew of 11pm for the music to be switched off.

IMPACT OF COVID-19

I ask about the impact of Covid-19. “Losing our weddings this year has had a massive impact on our business, as this is the backbone of the business,” I was told. “With that said, we have been really lucky in the fact that there has been greater demand for the campsite and cabins this summer as fewer people are travelling abroad.

“Unfortunately this has not balanced out the hit we have taken by not hosting larger events. Even smaller group events have mostly been cancelled, and trying to make the campsite and cabins as safe as possible for guests to feel comfortable has been difficult.

“With regards to next year, we are optimistic that we will be hosting all of our weddings and larger events. Obviously safety measures will have to be implemented, but by their nature outdoor weddings/events should be a safer environment for things to get back to normal as soon as possible.”

EXPLORING NEW OPTIONS…

Since lockdown, sister Meg has also returned to the farm to run retreats, after previously catering for a professional sailing team. This year she has run five yoga retreats, doing the cooking and organising yoga and meditation instructors to come and run three sessions per day. Group sizes are kept >>

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21

OUT AND ABOUT WITH NIGEL AKEHURST > Newly completed Kingfisher’s Nest cabin << to a maximum of 10 and this is something they are planning to push more next year.

In addition, Nat’s fiancée Becky is leaving her job in corporate events in London and joining the business at the end of the year. As the team has grown over the years, Archie and Nat have taken more of an interest in the farming venture as Richard has taken his foot off the pedal.

HEMP

> Archie in front of their glamping site hot tub

> Toilet and shower block

Hemp has recently been added to the rotation (after the business applied to the Home Office for a licence to grow it) around four years ago.

“It took about eighteen months to obtain consent; you have to give the grid reference of where you want to grow it. It can’t be near a footpath,” Archie said. The family now grows 25 acres. The seed is drilled into a cultivated bed in May. They then combine it in September and the seed is stored on a drying floor at a moisture content of 8% or below.

Most of the seed is sold to a cooperative called Hempen in Oxfordshire, which makes its own hemp products. This year they are also planning to sell the seed to a company called The Bristol Hemp Company, which will process it to make cooking oil and bodycare products (soap and moisturiser) that will then be sold from the farm. The rest of the hemp straw is baled up and processed – splitting the shiv from the fibre. The fibre is used for animal bedding and the shiv for hempcrete.

As well as drying their own hemp seed, they also dry hemp for other growers.

FARMING

In addition to hemp, Richard grows around 25 acres of quinoa, 100 acres of wheat, 50 acres of barley, 50 acres of borage and 50 acres of grass and clover leys. The rest of the land is made up of woodland and permanent pasture (the water meadows and orchard).

“The farm is in the Countryside Stewardship Higher Level scheme and Organic Entry Level scheme and as part of these we have areas of pollen and nectar strips, wild bird food strips, grass margins and beetle banks within each field. We also have a couple of freedom hives for bees from Bee Kind Hives,” said Archie. More recently Nat has taken up amateur bee-keeping.

Richard, Archie and Nat are interested in moving towards growing perennial crops, requiring less cultivation and improving soil fertility.

“The farm has been organic for nearly 20 years and we are now looking to make the conversion to a mix of biodynamic farming and agro-forestry with a mix of livestock that will be used to graze in the crop rotation,” said Archie.

22

COMMERCIAL LETS AND A CONVERTED 16TH CENTURY BARN When Richard’s grandfather came back to the farm before the war he was told it was not big enough and that he would have to create a new enterprise.

He chose pig production and made a success of it. History has repeated itself with the latest diversifications.

The piggeries, meanwhile,have been converted to offices and industrial units and a storage business operates from the farm.

A sixteenth century barn has been converted into a successful restaurant, The Barn Brasserie, run by Richard’s sister and brother-in-law.

THE FUTURE

Archie and his brother Nat are still optimistic that they will be able to host weddings next year. They are also building a more resilient business by constantly evolving and tapping into new trends.

It’s a fascinating model and an inspiration to other family farms looking into diversification. I look forward to following their progress on instagram (@browningbros) over the coming years and maybe staying in one of their quirky dwellings one day.

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

LEGAL DIARY

RESPONSIBILITY FOR PETS

AFTER WE’RE GONE Who will take care of my animals when I am no longer able to do so?

When making a Will, people often consider who they wish to leave their financial assets to but forget about their much-loved companions, often assuming that care of pets may be taken on by surviving family members. Taking on responsibility for an animal is a big task, and it is not something that everyone can undertake.

Careful consideration should be given as to who is most suitable to look after their needs.

Provision can be made in a Will to record who you want to look after your animals when you are no longer with us. While such a provision can be expressed, it is an expression of wish only, and the person is not bound to follow those wishes.

Asking in advance if they would be happy to take on responsibility for your pets may help with this. You may also wish to consider the financial implications and whether it would be appropriate or not to bequeath them a legacy towards food costs and future vet fees.

If you live on your own, or do not have anyone who would be able to take on care of your pets,

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there are several charitable schemes with which you can pre-register to ensure that your animals find caring and loving homes after you are gone, such as the RSPCA’s Home for Life Scheme, the Dogs Trust Canine Care Card and the Cats Protection League’s Cat Guardians Card amongst others. As with personal appointment of pet care-givers, you may wish to consider leaving the charity a legacy in recognition of the responsibility they are taking on.

Of course, being able to care for your animals may not just be impacted by death. If you reached an age where you could no longer care for your animals appropriately, or a health condition meant you were unable to do so, The Cinnamon Trust may be able to help. The Cinnamon Trust has a network of over 17,000 community service volunteers who can provide practical help with day-to-day care, for example walking a dog or getting food supplies.

For advice on making a Will or providing for your animals when you are gone, please contact a member of the Tax and Estate Planning team on 01622 698000.

AMY TURNER-IVES

Trainee Legal Executive Tax & estate specialist, Whitehead Monckton T: 01622 698005 E: AmyTurner-Ives@whitehead-monckton.co.uk www.whitehead-monckton.co.uk

WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

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SEND YOUR VIEWS OR COMMENTS:

SEF.ED@KELSEY.CO.UK twitter @SOUTHEASTFARMER facebook-square SOUTH EAST FARMER

FUNDRAISING IS UNDERWAY

24

Dear sir, I am writing in the hope that your readers will support young farmers across Sussex who will shortly be taking part in the national Give it Some YFC Welly Relay to help raise urgent funds.

The National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs (NFYFC) estimates that its 46 county federations have collectively lost nearly £700,000 in income since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the total loss for the organisation now stands at around £1m.

A year-long programme of fundraising is underway – with the first campaign beginning in October for National Young Farmers’ Week. Every county is being challenged to take part in the Give it Some YFC Welly Relay, which will see YFC members travelling the distance between the clubs in their county before passing a virtual welly on to the next county federation.

We have the full support of NFYFC President and world-renowned rugby referee Nigel Owens, who has encouraged supporters to do “all they can to ensure this vital youth service can continue”.

Sussex Young Farmers are expecting to receive the welly in the next few weeks and have calculated that its members across the county need to complete 107.5 miles to cover the distance between all 10 of its clubs.

The Sussex County Federation itself has a shortfall of thousands of pounds thanks to the pandemic and the charity will struggle to deliver vital services in the 2020-21 membership year unless it can raise significant funding.

Once they receive the welly, members will be walking, running and cycling to cover the mileage. Anyone wishing to support YFC members can do so at the county’s JustGiving page: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sussexyfc Brooke Kelly, County Chair, Sussex Young Farmers Clubs

© Telegraph Media Group Limited 2020

twitter REALISING MY DREAM

Today is the day...

After 22 years of full time employment including five jobs in three different industries, today is the day that I am finally realising my dream of becoming a farmer. Thank you to everyone who has supported me along my journey so far.

James Robson @jimbo_robson

ARTICLE STRUCK A CHORD Dear Sir, I felt I had to write in support of Nick Adames, whose article in a recent issue of South East Farmer struck a chord, particularly when it came to ‘people of a certain age’.

I am tired of being looked at as though it is all our fault and I should not be mixing with the ‘healthy’. Like all illnesses, some get it badly and die and others not.

Like Mr Adames, several people around have had the “virus” he mentions and with hindsight we have been told that it was possibly THE virus, particularly those of us who have been left with after effects – i.e. lack of taste, smell etc., and this was well over a month before the powers that be got in a state about it.

The human race generally has, as Mr Adames observed, lived through much worse than this (which isn’t even a pandemic), have just got on with their lives and have not been locked up, isolated, and otherwise criminalised to ‘keep them safe’.

Brigid Tucker, Churt, Surrey

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

ANIMAL RESCUE TEAMS Dear Sir, As a small farm owner and long-time subscriber to your magazine, I was prompted to write in response to two articles regarding cattle being rescued from water in the October edition. One related to a rescue from the River Adur in West Sussex and the other was mentioned by Monica Akehurst.

With that in mind I thought this would be a good time to make the farming community aware of the Animal Rescue teams provided by both East and West Sussex Fire & Rescue services and almost all other counties in the UK to a greater or lesser extent. I have a vested interest in the West Sussex team as I am one of the crew managers in the team of 12.

In West Sussex, the Technical Rescue Unit was set up as a specialist team to deal with rescues from collapsed buildings after 9-11, with funding from the government, but has now developed to carry out all manner of specialist rescues from height, water and confined spaces, together with many rescues of large and small animals. We are very well equipped, undergo continuous training in the many disciplines we carry out and are now funded entirely by West Sussex County Council.

The two recent bovine rescues involved people putting themselves at risk for the sake of their animals, which, although commendable and resulting in happy outcomes on these occasions, is something the fire service would like to prevent. We would discourage anyone from entering a watercourse to rescue an animal; only too often the person gets into difficulty while the dog or cow clambers out further downstream.

The West Sussex team is equipped with an off-road crane mounted on a Unimog, and that, along with our small fleet of vehicles and specialist equipment, could have been used to carry out these rescues safely and efficiently.

Long gone are the days when the Fire Service would send along a mass of untrained personnel, making the papers for the waste of taxpayers’ money used. Nowadays we are there and trained for all types of rescues using minimal personnel and specialist equipment, and the skills we practise rescuing animals are honed and improved ready for the time we need to rescue humans in similar situations.

What is important to note is that as part of the fire service there is ordinarily no charge for these services, and both counties’ teams are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Adrian Kirkpatrick

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> Left to right: Camilla Hayselden-Ashby; Daniel De Baerdemaecker; Keith Gue; Matthew Blyth

MEET THE SOUTH EAST’S

NUFFIELD SCHOLARS

Four of the 20 Nuffield Farming Scholars announced by The Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust (NFST) for 2021 are involved in the food, farming and rural industries in the South East.

Mike Vacher, Nuffield Farming Director, said the 2021 scholars had been “carefully selected for both their passion for their chosen topic and their potential as future leaders within UK agriculture”. They will now be supported by industry leaders, experts and pioneers as they carry out their research.

Mr Vacher added: “Our 2021 scholars have selected a range of topics that span the breadth of the industry, including livestock, soft fruits, aquaculture and workforce diversity. A Nuffield scholarship is a life changing experience, and will no doubt prove invaluable to both scholar businesses and to the industry as a whole.”

South East 2021 scholars are: Matthew Blyth from Chichester, West Sussex, who started his consultancy business to help sheep and beef farmers get more from their technology and make better use of their data. As established farm support schemes are removed, Matthew is passionate about the potential of data and electronic ID systems to benefit sheep farmers.

In light of limited use of this technology in the UK, he will research the factors that limit uptake and explore how these can be overcome.

Dan De Baerdemaecker from Tunbridge Wells, East Sussex, who set up a red deer farm as a diversification project at Penns in the Rocks Estate in East Sussex and now has an 800 red deer hind unit with followers being implemented into the arable rotation. Dan operates a more intensive system than most UK deer farms and takes influences from other livestock sectors to ensure that the business is efficient and profitable. His belief that deer behaviour can have a substantial impact on productivity has inspired him to better understand and manage this in an intensive system.

Keith Gue from Steyning, West Sussex, who manages a 450-cow dairy herd that was named 2019 Tesco Sustainable Dairy Group Farm of the Year. He previously worked for Genus ABS and is particularly interested in improving his herd’s genetic programme. Keith believes that there is a value gap in the dairy industry with respect to genetics and sees an opportunity to learn from recent advances in the pig and poultry industry. He would like to explore opportunities to increase the efficiency of the genetic supply chain and combine this with alternative farming structures to develop an integrated supply chain in the UK dairy industry.

Camilla Hayselden-Ashby from Ashford, Kent, who works as product lead for an agri-tech start-up called fieldmargin, a mobile and web app that streamlines farm work records and is used in more than 140 countries. She also works on her family’s sheep and arable farm, where she has focussed her efforts on driving profitability and developing diversification projects.

WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

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SARAH CALCUTT FOCUS ON FRUIT > Sharing the competition entries with City harvest

SARAH CALCUTT Chair, National Fruit Show

THE FUTURE 26

IS BRIGHT It was a big undertaking, 86 years of shows that have been important social dates in the industry’s calendar suddenly taken online with a completely different format. It’s a lot to ask of a team and a lot for an industry to adjust to. It was a mixed blessing that it came towards the end of the season; some early events taught some harsh lessons about what not to do so we did have a clear idea of what worked best, but there is the inevitable ‘Zoom’ fatigue. We are all really lacking in human contact and a little fed up with staring at a screen.

Great efforts were made by our key sponsors to provide great video footage of their team at work; the technology behind what UKCA deliver, the Agrovista top fruit team at work and a special mention for team Seymour, with Claire and Nick making a special trip to Germany to record a great piece about a new Fendt tractor they were launching at the show. These really helped to bring character to the event.

Personally speaking, I feel it was a great success.

We were delighted to see that there were over 2,500 visits to the exhibitor profiles in total and the exhibitor page was the most visited part of the show, while heading online enabled us to have a conference element too.

There were several notable outcomes which will definitely alter the way that we deliver the show in the future; why on earth have we not partnered with

the FPJ or the Fruiterers Livery before, for instance?

At the beginning of the month there was a special forum, under the NFS banner, at the FPJLive event.

They in turn joined with the Livery to present an exceptional group of speakers in the afternoon of our programme. The pressure to produce more for less is driving rapid innovation in all sectors of farming; a show like ours must remain current and at the fore, bringing new technology and ideas to the UK. With a technical forum spanning the middle of the day, sponsored by Agrovista, BASIS and NRoSO, CPD points were also available for attendees (in a year when opportunities to keep up the CPD have been distinctly lacking). The programme largely centred on future sustainability; IPM, soil fertility and the latest in robot-ready orchard designs were amongst the topics debated, lots of questions were asked and some brilliant insights into the future of our industry shared.

Bigger and better this year was the cider competition. This has been a hard thing to get off the ground but, we feel, an important part of the evolution of the show. A burgeoning cider industry, largely now increasingly centred around lighter brews that utilise dessert fruit, apple or pear cider, increasingly represents an opportunity to growers to add a new product to their business. With Nigel Barden as chair of judges, the evaluation process was one of the most fun days of 2020 for the team.

He is a cook, bon viveur, commentator and stand up

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

> Alderman William Russell, Lord Mayor of London, eating a Jazz from Chandler and Dunn (Tastiest Apple 2020) comedian, too, we found. With Nigel ably assisted

by Adrian Harris of NIAB EMR and his partner Lauren (both seasoned CAMRA judges), a very comprehensive tasting session ensued.

Nigel re-joined the team for the awards reception.

Orchard World always supports us in delivering a great start to the celebratory evening and this year helped us bring everyone together again. There was an option to enjoy a bottle of the champion cider (Yowler, well worth finding) while the winners of the hard fruit, soft fruit and nuts competition were announced. The evening heralded a brilliant result for the Bardsley team, with an outstanding tray of Bramleys scoring 99.75, and Chandler and Dunn’s Jazz winning the tastiest apple accolade.

The show fruit has gone to good causes; local community cafés feeding the needy and also to City Harvest via the Lord Mayor of London. I must say thank you to our whole team, the great committee, the judges and stewards, all volunteers, our great new President Teresa Wickham and the invaluable office and communications team. Planning has begun for the future; we are saying goodbye to our show secretary Catherine Joules at the end of the year and her departure has prompted a review of everything we do and how the show is run. If you have any thoughts on how we continue to deliver what the industry needs and how we grow for the future, please let me know.

NATIONAL FRUIT SHOW

URGENT NEED FOR ANSWERS

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manufacturers and retailers on advertising, just 3% of that went towards promoting fruit and veg.

Lord Krebs pointed out that healthy food costs three times as much as ‘junk’ food and said the poorest 10% of the population would have to spend three- >>

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A radical rethink on the country’s food system, swift answers on overseas labour, a focus on technology and a fit-for-purpose regulatory system for plant protection products were all demanded at the National Fruit Show Live.

Hard-hitting speakers Lord Krebs, who opened the event, and NFU Vicepresident Tom Bradshaw used the opening sessions of the virtual show to stress the urgent need for answers with just a few weeks to go before the Brexit deadline of 1 January 2021 and the chaos that could follow.

Tom Bradshaw hinted at the message he was going to deliver when he told an online press conference ahead of the opening that the government’s immigration policy was “not fit for the future of the industry”. He said the NFU and others were calling for an extension of the seasonal workers pilot but that “politics was getting in the way”.

Referring to the crisis that could face growers next year if the Government did not shift its stance and allow more overseas workers into the country for the picking season, he said: “This ideologically driven government believes UK workers will fill the gap” – something the industry has said simply won’t happen on the evidence of this year’s intake.

Adding that he was “incredibly concerned”, he said it appeared ministers were determined to wait and check out the problem for themselves “before making a U-turn”.

The press conference also heard from Teresa Wickham, President of the Marden Fruit Show Society, who said the online show had “exceeded expectations”, with a strong line up of speakers, a busy exhibition hall, an impressive display of fruit to judge and a good turnout of visitors.

Referring to the decision to press ahead with a virtual show in the light of the pandemic, she explained: “Walking away would have damaged the industry and shown a lack of confidence.”

In his opening address, Lord Krebs said that the ‘Five a Day’ campaign introduced 20 years ago had failed, with the National Diet and Nutrition survey showing no increase in the amount of fruit and vegetables eaten across the country. He said that in 2008/09 the nation was eating on average 102gms a day.

Ten years on, the figure was exactly the same.

Pointing out that the food system was “stacked against” fruit consumption and a healthy diet, he pointed out that of the £300m a year spent by

WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

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NATIONAL FRUIT SHOW

28

<< quarters of their disposable income to follow the Government’s own healthy eating guidelines. The cost in health terms to individuals and the NHS was “massive”, he said, and amounted to £27bn a year in NHS spending.

He said that the Select Committee on Food, Poverty, Health and Environment, which he chaired, had called for a radical rethink of the system in order to promote a healthier diet and fix the failures in food, although its nearly 50 recommendations had been met with “an insipid response”.

The good news, he said, was that the Government had committed to producing a national food strategy which would build on the work being done by Henry Dimbleby. It was, he said, a broad commitment that “leaves lots to play for”, adding that as part of that strategy the Government needed to “take on the business interests that make their money from selling unhealthy fat, sugar and salt disguised as food”.

Lord Krebs also praised the innovation being shown in the fruit sector but stressed the need to “bring the consumer with us”, a point that was taken up by Tom Bradshaw, who reinforced the message that society needed to be part of the decisions.

Pointing out that innovation meant some strawberry producers were now growing nearly 10 times as many strawberries on the same area of land, Tom warned that in some cases – such as genetically modified food – people had not been party to the debate and felt threatened by it. “We have to bring society with us,” he stressed.

Welcoming the support of the House of Lords and the one million people who had supported the

NFU’s standards petition, he rejected the idea that making food cheaper would solve the problem of increasing access to healthy food, with the country already having, he said, the third cheapest food in the world.

On labelling, he pointed out that lots of online retailers already had a “British” button but said a better option would be for sites to offer a “standards” button that would only offer buyers food that had been produced to the UK’s “worldleading” food standards and cut out imported food that did not meet them.

Turning to the challenges facing growers next year, Tom said labour availability was a critical issue, with the industry still no clearer about what it would face from 1 January 2021. The current policy was not fit for farming or food production and there were “grave concerns” around the continuation of the seasonal worker pilot scheme, he said. Meanwhile, he went on, free movement will have ended with the UK’s membership of the EU. Tom said the lack of clarity was putting food supply across the country at risk. Last year’s pilot scheme “hit all the right KPIs” and so there was no reason not to expand it, he said, adding that DEFRA was “fighting our corner hard”.

There was, he said, a similar lack of clarity around trade with Europe post-Brexit, with importers and exporters not knowing what the future looked like.

Tom said a no-deal exit would have real implications around the imposition of global tariffs of between 2% and 15%, which would increase food prices, something he said the country could not afford on the back of the pandemic. He added that

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

the situation “brings into question the future of the global tariff”, but warned that “if we abandon that then we throw away our negotiating power”.

Tom also called for a ‘water framework’ to allow the country to capture rainfall in winter and use it for irrigation in summer, pointing out that with the Government keen to invest in national infrastructure projects, such a system “should not be beyond the wit of man”.

On plant protection products and agrochemicals, he said UK growers already used products carefully, protecting the environment while supporting productivity, but added: “When we need to use these products, we need to use them.”

At the moment the industry did not know what registration would look like beyond 1 Jan, while emergency approvals were currently taking months to come through and sometimes approved too late and after they were needed, he said. Farmers and growers, he stressed, needed a regulatory system that understood the importance of products and allowed the industry to maximise productivity.

Referring to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s claim that he wanted to “unleash the power of our worldleading bioscience sector”, he said that now was the time, but pointed out the industry needed evolution rather than revolution.

“We cannot produce a resilient food supply system without profitable businesses that can reinvest,” he said. Referring to “huge opportunities around technology and innovation”, he said there were many decisions that the Government first had to get right to give growers the confidence to invest in the future and feed the nation.

NEW FENDT SHOWCASED Long-standing supporters and major sponsors of the National Fruit Show, NP Seymour, used this year’s virtual event as an opportunity to take growers behind the scenes at the Fendt Forum.

Just days before the National Fruit Show Live, Nick and his daughter Claire Seymour, from the UK’s leading specialist tractor and machinery dealership NP Seymour, travelled to Germany to record an exclusive demonstration of the new Fendt 200 V/F/P Vario, which was revealed by the popular AGCO brand in a global online premiere on 7 October 2020.

“During the lockdown, we started filming and sharing a few machinery demonstration videos for customers. As these proved incredibly popular, we decided to record an exclusive video of the new Fendt to be premiered on our virtual stand at the National Fruit Show Live,” said Claire, sales and marketing manager of the Goudhurst-based family-run firm.

Designed specifically for use in specialist crops such as vines, hops and orchards, all five models of the latest Fendt 200 VFP Vario generation, including the 207V, 208V, 209V, 210V and 211V, are equipped with the stepless Fendt Vario gearbox, with outer widths ranging from 1.07 metres to 1.68 metres.

With its three-cylinder, 3.3-litre AGCO Power engine, the maximum power range of this series is 79 hp to 124 hp, with growers able to choose from Power, Profi and Profi+ versions.

The Fendt 200 VFP Vario’s new four-pillar cab is more spacious. This new design means that

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the cab air filter system can be upgraded to protection category 4 with protection against dust, liquid fertilisers and their vapours to meet all requirements for plant protection use and keep the driver safe. The Fendt 200 VFP Vario also offers fully equipped implement attachments at the front, rear and on both sides for mid mounting implements.

The innovative power-boost concept DynamicPerformance on the Fendt 211 VFP Vario releases ten hp more power on demand and is not confined to driving speeds or particular operational tasks. While the engine power of tractors is typically distributed across numerous power consumers, such as the PTO, hydraulics, engine fans and air conditioning, this system detects when particular components need more power and then provides a boost with smart control.

Drivers of the Fendt 200 VFP Vario Power model can enjoy a digital display area for the first time, with a 10” digital dashboard, operated via the push dial on the steering column, fitted as standard.

This display makes it much easier, faster and more straightforward to configure engine and gearbox functions and working hydraulics, among other things.

The FendtONE operating concept also opens up new control possibilities in the Fendt 200 VFP Vario

YOUTUBE

Profi. The new control panel and multifunction joystick allow operators to proportionally control two valves and adjust the active speed of the cruise control, all with the dial on the joystick. There is also a 12” terminal to show various machine functions, lane guidance options, ISOBUS functions and attachment functions, and the display can be customised to suit the driver’s needs.

The Fendt 200 Vario Profi is perfectly equipped for using complex equipment, with its optional load-sensing pump and 3L joystick, which can be used, among other things, to operate a leaf remover with an integrated function for the third hydraulic circuit. Power Beyond connectors, or two additional central hydraulic control units, extend the hydraulic equipment from the Profi variant upwards to give up to eight proportional control units, including the front power lifts.

With the invention of the Fendt 200 VFP Vario Profi+, the narrow-gauge tractor can now boast the complete range of smart farming solutions adopted from Fendt’s standard tractors, the Fendt 300 Vario and Fendt 700 Vario. In addition to the Fendt Guide lane guidance system (formerly VarioGuide), Fendt 200 Vario Profi+ is available in the agronomy module of Fendt Task Manager.

The first Fendt 200 Vario models are due in the UK in Spring 2021.

For those of you who may have missed the 2020 National Fruit Show, footage of the Fendt 200 V/F/P Vario can now be viewed on NP Seymour’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/NPSEYMOUR

WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

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NATIONAL FRUIT SHOW

30 >Teresa Wickham and Sarah Calcutt with the Show Champion tray of Bramleys from Bardsley England which scored 99.75

AND THE WINNER IS…

Virtual exhibition stands, online presentations and hard-hitting speakers played a large part in the success of the 87th National Fruit Show, but as always it was the fruit that took the centre of the virtual stage.

The judging may have taken place behind closed doors – although by happy accident it took place in Marden, Kent, where the first 50 years or more of fruit shows were held – but the standards were as high as ever and the competition no less fierce.

Judges compared almost 4,000 apples, pears and nuts from 75 entries before declaring which growers could this year claim a prize winning crop of British produce.

The headline results saw Bardsley England named Best In Show after winning four classes and the Britain’s Tastiest Apple crown again going to Jazz grown by Chandler & Dunn.

A total of 27 classes, including Bramley, Jazz, Braeburn, Comice and Dessert classes, were judged by Colin Bird, Caroline Ashdown, Charnee Butcher, Nigel Jenner, Ryan Williams and Jack Roberts.

B Piper Partnership, which entered for the first time last year, returned in 2020 to carry off all three pear classes, for Comice, Conference and Concorde.

Katie Langridge won the Under 40s class for dessert apples and for Bramley Exhibitor (U 40), while Jazz was not only the tastiest apple but the second tastiest, with Cameo grown by A C Goatham & Son coming third.

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

LOVE CIDER

> Sarah Calcutt with Nigel Barden In detail: • Show stalwarts Bardsley England, named Best In Show, once again won Bramley classes 1 and 2 as well as coming first in two Cox classes and third in Conference pears.

• The Cameo class was again won by Clive and Richard Edmed, with Elverton Farms in East Kent finishing second.

• The Edmeds were also placed second and third in Cox and gained third class in Braeburn.

• Marden based Mallions came first in the AOV Culinary Apples, equalling their 2019 entry, and also won in the Russets class and AOV Dessert Apples. They came second in the Braeburn class and third in Gala and Cox. • The Under 40s class was dominated by female growers, with Katie Langridge picking up first and second places in the dessert apple class.

Kelly Shears came third this year after finishing second in 2019.

• In the pear classes, B. Piper Partnership swept the board, winning the Comice, Conference and Concorde classes.

• Other wins of note went to J L Baxter & Son for Best AOV Pear. Derrick May came second in two pear classes – AOV Pear and Comice, while Derrick May came third in AOV Dessert Apples.

• R D Applegrowers won the Rubens class and also picked up third place, as well as coming first in Gala or Any Sport of Jonagold.

• A reduced number of entries in the nut classes saw John Cannon sweep the board in cobnuts and AOV cobnuts. S Brice won the walnut class.

• In the soft fruit competition, Clockhouse Farms won all three classes across strawberries, raspberries and blackberries.

• The apple juice competition was dominated again by Devon-based Four Elms juice, which won Best Blended Apple Juice and Best Blended Juice.

• The Best All Round Juice was Bentleys Castle Fruit Farm Russet Juice, which also picked up the Best Single Variety Juice prize.

The show was generously supported by main sponsors Avalon Produce Ltd, Agrovista, N.P Seymour and UKCA/Isolcell.

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The ‘Love Cider’ competition run as part of the National Fruit Show saw fans on its social media channels nominating and voting for their favourite British cider in three classes; traditional, blended and perry or pear.

Head judge Nigel Barden was joined by Adrian Harris and Lauren Farwell from NIAB EMR, the East Malling based horticultural and agricultural research institute. They tasted more than 40 different ciders in a wide variety of styles from traditional to sparkling and from all over the UK, including Wales and Scotland.

The overall winner was Yowler from the Kent Cider Company, which also won the traditional cider category and received a trophy and £100 from show hosts the Marden Fruit Show Society.

In the blended class, Turner’s Sparkling Elderflower took first prize, while Hogan’s Perry took the top prize in the perry or pear cider class.

Judges described Yowler Craft Cider (5.2% abv) as having “apple origins and flavours on the nose and in the mouth. But with a long farmhouse dry cider finish”.

Sarah Calcutt, Chair of the National Fruit Show, said “The quality of entries and the sheer number of ciders nominated in 2020 was phenomenal. Through our ‘Love Cider’ competition we want to showcase the ciders that fans of the drink really love. It’s their competition to nominate what they drink and who they rate. Well done to our three winners, well deserved!”

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31

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DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

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FRUIT

FEATURED COMPANY: AC HULME & SONS

MAJOR PLAYER IN THE

TOP FRUIT WORLD Back in 2014, top fruit grower Tom Hulme stood in a brand new cold storage complex capable of holding 9,000 bins of fruit and broke out in a cold sweat.

“I said to myself – ‘you realise that for the rest of your life you are going to have to fill this every year’,” he recalled, before adding: “Two years later we extended the block to hold another two thousand bins...”

The 2014 project was just the start of a carefully planned campaign of expansion that has seen A C Hulme & Sons, who farm at Ash, just outside Dover in Kent, become a major player in the top fruit world.

The latest phase in that expansion – solidly rooted in a commitment to sustainability – is an impressive new grading, packing and distribution complex that will this year handle around 12,500

tonnes of apples and pears.

It was ‘complex’ in more ways than one, with main contractors Wealden AM working closely with Tom to make sure that it was ‘business as usual’ for the grower while delivering the massive new building on time - and partly on the footprint of existing packing and distribution facilities that had to be operational until the very last moment.

The expansion at Hoaden Court Farm has been driven by the clear vision of Tom, who, while he grew up on the family farm, spent 12 years working in banking before returning to play his part in the business just nine years ago.

With no formal training in agriculture or horticulture, Tom nonetheless realised that in the competitive world of top fruit, standing still was simply not an option and scalability and sustainability were the crucial elements needed for success.

“I’ve had no training, but I grew up on the farm, I love growing fruit and my experience in banking means that I understand business economics,” he said. “I feel I can spot a sensible strategy and then execute it well, and that’s what I have tried to do with the farm.”

That strategy has seen the amount of fruit grown and distributed by A C Hulme & Sons double and then double again since 2008, with more expansion on the horizon. The new building at Hoaden Court is about more than just capacity, though, having also streamlined the operation and provided a range of modern facilities that meet the sustainability criteria at the heart of everything the family is seeking to achieve in their farming enterprises.

The highly experienced Wealden AM team, which played a vital role in co-ordinating the wide range of sub-contractors and suppliers involved in the >>

> Tom Hulme

> Sean Chaplin and Tom Hulme TO ADVERTISE CALL 01303 233883

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33

FRUIT

FEATURED COMPANY: AC HULME & SONS << operation, has delivered what Tom described as a “seriously marvellous shed”, together with a smaller building housing refrigeration equipment for the cold stores.

While Wealden AM director Sean Chaplin, who headed up the team, commented: “Even the small shed is a big shed”, the main structure is a 44m single span building that is an impressive 65m long. It features four loading bays with dock levellers, a suite of offices and space for box-making and packaging equipment on a mezzanine floor and modern, well-specced welfare and hygiene facilities for growing numbers of staff.

Tom described the new packhouse, built around a Greefa six-lane Combisort pre-grader with 22 water channels and four robotic Burg Machinefabriek water tanks as in-feeds for dedicated bagging and packing lines, as “future-proof”, although that isn’t to say he doesn’t have plans to keep expanding the business.

“I wanted our entire post-orchard operation to be fit for the future, reflecting our existing growing and storage operations, not just for the business but for our employees, customers and neighbours,” he said. “Our previous packing operation was effective and profitable, but it wasn’t scalable, and you have to keep investing if you want to stay competitive in this marketplace.”

AC Hulme & Sons’ main customer is supermarket chain Lidl GB, to which it currently delivers more than 9,000 tonnes of apples and pears each year, including fruit bought in from other growers. He described Lidl as “very supportive and fair” and clearly has a good relationship with the budget retailer.

The remarkable growth in the amount of fruit picked at Hoaden Court, from 10,000 bins in 2012 to 14,500 in 2015 and 17,000 in 2020, has all been achieved on the same area of land. A C Hulme & Sons crops 125 hectares of top fruit and a further 25 hectares of cherries, plums and apricots, but while the area has stayed the same, the output has doubled.

“We are now consistently producing 70 to 80 tonnes per hectare on well over half our apple growing area rather than the less than 40 tonnes we used to achieve,” said Tom, who expects to grade around 40,000 bins this year and market around 35,000 under the A C Hulme & Sons name.

He puts the remarkable growth in productivity down to four factors. “We have some natural advantages on this site, with ideal soil and light for top fruit, we have a clear focus on yield and productivity and we are clear in our own minds about what we are trying to achieve,” he said. “And fourthly, we only plant into virgin land to avoid diseases present in the soil. You ideally need at least a ten year gap between removing one orchard and planting the next.”

A C Hulme & Sons – a mixed farming business which also runs successful arable and cattle operations – grows the early cropping Robijn variety, which can be harvested in August, along with Cameo, Braeburn and Cox, which still makes up 15% of the farm’s output. Gala, though, accounts for 50% of the crop, while Conference pears are another mainstay. >>

34

Photos © Martin Apps, Countrywide Photographic

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FRUIT

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<< Tom’s twin focus on sustainability and profitability is behind his ambition to keep as much of the growing, packing and distribution operation in his own hands, driving standards up, avoiding middle-men margins and reducing his carbon footprint at the same time.

That goal led him to plant a trial nursery at Brook Farm focusing on reducing canker in commercial orchards. “If you can grow young trees in a less intensive way and then move them just a few metres, rather than putting them in a cold store for many months and shipping them from Holland or Italy before planting them in totally different soil and climate conditions, that must be less stressful for the trees and help them get off to a better start,” he said.

The three-hectare nursery was planted in 2017.

While the results are yet to be fully evaluated, Tom said it was “so far so good”. He added: “We don’t want to over stretch ourselves, but we are looking at every aspect of our growing, packing and distribution operations, including transport to depot, to see how we can reduce outside help and create an integrated in-house business from start to finish. That way we can control costs and quality.”

That ambition was behind the new grading, packing and distribution complex now unveiled at Hoaden Court Farm, adding another piece to the

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expansion jigsaw that Tom began working on in 2014.

“The final piece of the operation, post-cold store, was missing, and that was restricting our growth,” he said. “We couldn’t grow more fruit because we couldn’t pack it, let alone offer our customers flexibility in terms of packaging options.”

“Now we can grade 100,000 bins a year and pack 100,000 cases a week and our operation is completely flexible in terms of different packaging formats.

Given that we are currently packing 25,000 cases a week, that shows how much more we can grow.”

Tom is confident that the extra capacity will be needed because he feels there has been “a huge change” in UK buying habits over the past 20 years.

“People increasingly understand and care about provenance and they want to buy British. The marketplace is far more supportive. People care about food miles and they want to buy British fruit when they can.”

Before Tom was invited to join the business in 2011, A C Hulme & Sons was in the safe hands of his father Tim and his uncle, Humphrey, who worked closely in the fruit business with grower Alan Smith, who retired in 2011, the year Tom returned. Humphrey still runs the business alongside Tom and his brother Edward.

“I had had enough of what I had been doing and

the time was right for a change,” he recalled. “The family didn’t want to sell up but needed to think about succession – my father moved to South Africa in 2015 – and having grown up on the farm I decided I would like to come back and help with the business.”

At that time A C Hulme & Sons had enough cold storage for little more than 1,000 bins of fruit and a packhouse built in the 1990s that was showing its age. “My father and uncle asked me to look at the fruit side of the business and it was clear that we needed to invest in controlled atmosphere cold storage to support our expanding growing operation,” said Tom. “Planning permission was far from straightforward as we wanted to build a 65m by 40m building on a blank site, but as there was a clear agricultural need, Dover Council agreed the plans after giving them a lot of careful consideration.”

The stores were big enough to hold 9,000 bins, and it was when Tom stood in the new building for the first time that he realised the challenge he had given himself to grow enough fruit to fill them every year. It was a challenge that was easily met, though, and just two years later the stores were extended, creating space for another 2,000 bins.

Another two years on, the bulldozers were back on site once again, building dynamic controlled >>

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FRUIT

FEATURED COMPANY: AC HULME & SONS

> BMS Electrical were responsible for carrying out all of the electrical installation << atmosphere stores to hold a further 3,000 bins as A C Hulme & Sons signalled their clear intentions to compete with the biggest players in the top fruit world.

This year’s 4,500 sq m expansion of the business’ packing and distribution operation was overseen on site by Wealden AM’s Contracts Director Nick Field, who also had to cope with the twin pressures of one of the wettest winters on record and the coronavirus lockdown, which began four or five months into the project.

“Overcoming these and other technical challenges required numerous site meetings with client and contractors,” Nick recalled. “It was important to meet face to face because of the complexities of the contract and the timescales involved. Our focus was always on the client’s vision.”

Despite those challenges and the need to phase the work so that Tom could have access to an existing pre-grader that was within the footprint of the new building until the very last minute, the job ran to schedule and was completed on time.

“We had to be flexible and work very closely with all the other contractors on site in order to disrupt operations as little as possible and allow for a seamless transition between old and new,” explained Sean Chaplin. “There was a fair bit of overlap between the old buildings and the new – and we also had to be

Photo © DB Photography Sussex

aware that Tom was trying to run his business while we were building a massive new structure in the middle of his yard.”

Wealden AM’s experience and its existing good relationship with other contractors was enough to ensure the job was finished on time and on budget despite the challenges. Sean explained: “Sometimes it’s a case of persuading the groundworks contractor, for instance, to lay a particular area of concrete out of sequence because that will allow a number of other people to get where they need to be and get on with their jobs.”

The groundworks were in the care of Torran Construction, which Tom said had “done a very good job”, while he was also impressed with the work of contractors including Orchard Cooling, GPL, which provided the white walling and doors, and BMS Electrical Contractors.

Well before the first bulldozer arrived on site, Wealden AM worked closely with planning partner Simon Kenny of Rural Partners, who worked closely with Tom to design the building and gain planning permission. Sean commented: “Simon and the team used their technical knowledge to ensure the project was well thought out and would deliver exactly what Tom was looking for. Wealden AM was responsible for procuring the steel frame building and incorporating all the important elements that >>

39

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> Sean Chaplin and Tom Hulme

40

<< had to be designed into it.”

As work progressed on site, Nick Field ensured that the team took a flexible approach to ensure nothing interfered with the existing operation of the site and to resolve any issues that arose.

One of the most challenging aspects of the job was ensuring that all the services, including power, water, drainage, air and data, were buried within the floor slab, something that Tom was keen to see in order to keep the area tidy and uncluttered. “You only get one chance to get it right, and that is at the very start of the building’s life,” he commented.

For the Wealden AM team it meant very careful calculations to ensure that all the services were available as close as possible to where they were needed, something that was tricky when dealing with a wide variety of pre-grading and packing equipment.

“As well as being hidden, it has to be accessible in case of a problem,” Sean remarked. “It was a big part of the operation and we got it right first time. It’s just a pity you can’t see any of it!”

The project was completed in two phases, with the packhouse and mezzanine offices finished first and the chilled pre-grader area and dispatch area following close behind. “It was good to work with such a great team of people,” Sean added. “This kind of project needs good relationships and first-

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

rate contractors, and that’s what we enjoyed here.

“At the end of the day we all wanted to hand over the best possible new facility for the client and I believe that’s what we achieved.”

But the story is not told just yet. Assuming planning permission is granted, Tom is now planning a further 9,500 bins of new long-term cold storage on the site as A C Hulme & Sons continues to grow.

When it comes to growing more fruit to fill those stores, the business has options on its arable land. It has already planted 30ha of land at Brook Farm, Wingham with high intensity wire and post apple and pear orchards and is planning to increase that to at least 50ha in the next few years.

“We are determined to keep growing, to focus on quality and to deliver great fruit to the UK consumer,” Tom concluded.

BROAD MACHINERY RANGE

Machinery supplier Kirkland UK has a broad range of equipment on offer, from specialised tractors to pruning and cultivating equipment and sprayers.

The dealership prides itself on carrying a good stock of the latest innovations and keeping in contact with the UK’s growers so that it understands what the industry is looking for.

As UK importers of Antonio Carraro tractors, Kirkland can supply anything from specialised models for specific applications through to standard machines that offer benefits such as reverse drive, low compaction and compact design up to 98hp.

Farmers can also book a demonstration of the impressive Orizzonti pruning and cultivating equipment that is ideal for anyone looking for chemical-free weeding solutions.

The Frumaco harvesting machines have again proved to be reliable this year and Kirkland is taking orders for next season. Get in touch for information and prices.

The dealership also boasts a vast sprayer range covering all applications, from the tried and tested Kirkland and Orvin ranges to the HSS range which offers a three-row version. Kirkland is also taking demo bookings for its 3,000l demonstrator and can also carry out all sprayer servicing and testing, an ideal thing to book in during the winter months.

FEATURED COMPANY: AC HULME & SONS

EXPERIENCE IS VITAL When Paul Hamlyn became farm manager at A C Hulme & Sons’ rapidly expanding fruit growing operation at Hoaden Court Farm, near Dover, two years ago, he knew what support he needed.

Paul was keen to continue the working relationship he had developed over the years with Agrii agronomist Colin Bird, whose vast experience and access to all of the Agrii back up services he knew would be valuable as he worked alongside grower Tom Hulme to turn his expansion dreams into reality.

Paul introduced Colin to Tom, and the Agrii man, with 31 years of agronomy experience under his belt, was asked to do some field walking. “I’ve been supporting the team ever since, and it’s been a privilege to be part of such an impressive operation,” Colin explained.

“The professionalism on display across the operation at Hoaden Court is outstanding,” he added. “Frankly it’s a joy for somebody like me to walk a farm run by somebody like Tom. It makes you want to get up and go to work each day.”

As well as his agronomy experience, Colin spent his early years as a farm manager and is well respected for the breadth of his knowledge across all aspects of fruit growing. He also has the support of the wider Agrii team and the Agrii iFarm trial site at East Malling in Kent.

The trial site allows Agrii to investigate new ideas and products before recommending them to clients, ensuring growers only use ‘tried and tested’ measures. “If somebody told me they could plant trees upside down to improve yields I would try it first to avoid harming their business,” Colin commented.

“Agrii is determined that growers’ businesses should not have to take risks with untried technology or transplanted mythologies, and the iFarm allows us to take those risks for them.”

Colin supports A C Hulme & Sons with their top and stone fruit crops but also helps trouble shoot difficult situations. “Agrii can offer a broad range of solutions that go well beyond conventional crop protection products, including biological, bio-pesticides, bio-rationals and cultural techniques.

“In my view Tom has a ‘progressive conservative’ approach to business. Nothing is rushed and everything is carefully thought out. Agrii has a likeminded approach to growing, plus a huge amount of specialist knowledge. It makes for a natural fit.

“Hoaden Court is in a fantastic situation which is ideal for growing top fruit and Tom’s approach exploits that advantage to produce higher than

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average yields, while Agrii is on hand with tailored advice and all the back-up products and services he needs.”

When it comes to supporting growers like Tom, Colin believes firmly in a common sense approach.

“I don’t come up with off the wall ideas and certainly don’t attempt to reinvent the wheel, but when there is a particular problem that needs a solution I always try to think outside the box and look at it from different angles.

“The aim is always to come up with a solution that is both practical and cost-effective and I have already helped Tom and Paul make a number of rather neat improvements.”

Agrii has 300 agronomists across the UK, including an extended fruit team of 15 led by Kevin Workman, with dedicated specialists in areas such as stone fruit, soft fruit crops and vines.

Richard Killian is the technical lead and ensures that his colleagues are kept up to date with the latest controls, techniques and concepts as well as

regulatory matters. One of the keys to the team’s success is that it meets regularly to share and exchange information.

Colin used to be the technical lead for Agrii, but at “the wrong side of 60” he is offloading some of his responsibilities in order to ‘bring on’ younger colleagues and is concentrating on pure agronomy.

“I like being in the field, although the pandemic has made it more difficult,” he confirmed. “If you don’t walk, you don’t see.”

He believes A C Hulme & Sons’ expansion is well founded and carefully thought out. “The future for Tom is to keep getting bigger; he wants to be top of the game and I want to help him get there,” he commented.

Colin – and Agrii – plan to do that with tailored advice backed up by a strong team with a wellestablished pedigree. “If you have a problem, or you are looking to improve the way you do things, Agrii will either have a solution or try to find one,” Colin concluded.

41 COLIN BIRD

T: 0845 6073322 E: info@agrii.co.uk www.agrii.co.uk

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ELVED PHILLIPS ARABLE NOTES

SPOT CASH MARKETS REMAINING FIRM

42

There is an old Indian proverb that says: “He who rides a tiger dare not get off.” This could equally apply to the ‘bull market’ I heralded last month.

The bull needs to be fed to keep him going, and so far the ‘bull run’ has been mostly unchecked, with spot cash markets for all commodities remaining firmer than later positions, for which there has been little carry or indeed appetite for buying.

So, if you have had some wheat or barley to sell, well done and keep cashing in! China may have been where Covid-19 originated, but while we were busy locking down from its effects during the summer, the Chinese were engaged in a very astute marketing operation. It’s not quite up there with the Russian “sting” of the 1970s (when they bought half the USA maize crop, before revealing their own crop failure) but it may not be far short.

From the end of August, when their granaries were about empty, China began a programme of buying US maize and soya when maize was then at the bottom of the market. Since then they have been buying up to 750,000 metric tonnes per week. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had forecast that China would need to import only seven million tonnes of maize this year, yet the trade thinks they have bought nearer 20 million tonnes! Likewise, on soya 15 million tonnes was their import estimate.

They are now heading for 30 million tonnes.

Everyone kept saying that in the context of a world maize crop of 1.1 billion tonnes, this was insignificant, but recently the USDA reduced the estimated US crop by another seven million tonnes.

There is also a rumour that the three

billion bushels they are supposed to have in store has been over estimated and they only have half of it! As maize prices have risen, buyers switched to the cheaper Ukrainian origin but they haven’t had as good a harvest as expected and logistically they are struggling to supply export contracts.

Europe alone needs about 20 million tonnes of maize, and within that the UK needs three million.

The imported price is now about £40 per tonne higher than it was in August, but with wheat at £180 and barley at £140, maize still calculates in feed rations. Because of GM issues and maybe a ‘Trump tax’ on exports, I cannot see much coming from America to the EU, so that leaves a huge responsibility on Brazil and Argentina, where the maize harvest is only just underway.

China hasn’t only been raiding America for maize.

Because it’s fallen out with Australia, France is now supplying most feed and malting barley to China.

They are also buying French wheat, which really cannot be the cheapest origin for them. But, all this has increased internal EU prices and pushed up the imported values for the UK. A month ago the trade was thinking that currency would dictate what we would have to pay for imported wheat. Now, though, the biggest factor is what price the exporter to the UK wants when they have other buyers closer at hand.

Despite its big wheat crop, 83 million tonnes up from 76 million, even Russia is having second thoughts about ELVED PHILLIPS supplying all-comers with its cheap wheat. Alarm bells are Openfield ringing domestically, with big price increases prompting flour

IMPROVE THE HEALTH OF YOUR SOIL

millers to request up to eight million tonnes of milling wheat be held in reserve. They are talking now about imposing export quotas. With the final solution being that the Russian government is now controlling the grain trade again, if President Putin says ‘nyet’ to any more wheat exports, no one will argue with that!

So that’s all the bullish stuff, but what about the bearish news, I hear you say! Well there are just the first hints of weakness, starting with the MATIF oilseeds and Chicago soya futures just off recent highs. China hasn’t bought any more soya for two weeks. What if they achieved what they set out to do and withdraw from buying soya and maize?

Those markets would not sustain current levels. It’s interesting that China is in the middle of its latest five year strategy review covering food security, strategic reserves and energy, with a move away from reliance on coal and even securing stocks of metals, which is one reason why copper has increased in value recently. So perhaps this is all joined up after all?

As a final thought, I mentioned last month the activity of the largest world hedge funds liquidating equities and replacing them with commodity futures. They now have the biggest open long position ever recorded of maize futures. If President Trump is re-elected and stability returns to the stock markets those hedge funds may go into reverse and dump their futures, which could also bring maize down sharply. By the time you read this the 3 November election will have happened and you should know the answer. For now these are still very good prices to be wrong at, so keep on trading!

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STEPHEN CARR

The days are shrinking fast now. The skies are full dark before six, and the shorter working hours spent out in the fields mean I venture homeward earlier each day. The post-supper stroll out into the barley, the lingering to admire the burgundy coats of my Sussex cattle glowing ruby red in the dying rays of the sun – both are things of the past. Each evening finds me staring into the flames of a snapping log fire, contemplating the passing of the farming year and musing about the months that lie ahead…

Mind you, the less time spent thinking about the washout that was harvest 2020 the better. Instead, I sit here trying to figure out a strategy for my arable acres as we head into the brave new post-Brexit world of the UK as an independent trading nation, free of EU rules and regulations.

Just how ‘free’ we will be is still not clear. At the time of writing, the UK government is still locked into acrimonious talks about the terms of our departure beyond the transition period. As far as arable farmers are concerned, we don’t know whether we will still enjoy access to the EU’s internal market with our food exports after 1 January. What will happen, I wonder, to the 250,000 tonnes of malting barley we send across the Channel each year, much of which is grown in this area?

Asking for access to the EU’s internal market while

Growers and agronomists are seeing a surge in volunteer oats this autumn following an increase in oat plantings last season, and have warned it could have significant impacts on yield if not managed.

Simon Francis, commercial technical manager at FMC, said the agricultural sciences company had received numerous enquiries about controlling volunteer oats in autumn cereals this year.

“Many growers had to opt for spring crops last year due to the weather in the previous autumn, and part of this acreage was put down to oats. This, coupled with a difficult harvest, has meant there is a high amount of

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RESILIENCE –

OR JUST THE WINE TALKING? STEPHEN CARR Arable farmer

escaping its rules and regulations seems rather like refusing to pay one’s subscription to the golf club then expecting to nip in for a swift round and an evening at the 19th hole. But, like any farmer, I have to try and plan a way ahead for my farm, however strange the times we live in.

Whatever deal the UK does or doesn’t get for withdrawing from the EU, post-Brexit arable farmers face a whole series of big issues. These include the withdrawal of the BPS and the introduction of ELMS to replace it (only one in ten UK arable farms currently shows a trading profit when the BPS is removed from the bottom line of their annual trading accounts).

What import tariffs, if any, will be introduced to keep out cheap imports of arable commodities? Will we

be able to grow GM crops? Can we abandon the EU’s tight regulation of what pesticides we can use on our fields?

As I listen of an evening to the wind wailing down my chimney, I can’t help but think that Brexit will bring arable farmers a chill blast. Ideologically, many of those in the Cabinet of our current government have no time for a subsidised, protected agriculture and would doubtless prefer a free trade, cheap food policy. They have clearly demonstrated this in their determination to see the Internal Market Bill through Parliament, rejecting the amendments that would have ensured that no food could be imported that did not meet British production standards.

But I try not to be too gloomy. After all, I’ve enjoyed the privilege of farming under the benign auspices of the CAP for the first 40 years of my farming career.

Increasingly, I find myself thinking: ‘Come on Brexit.

Do your worst!’ As if it is a welcome opportunity to prove my commercial resilience as a farmer. But then again, perhaps this is just the wine talking.

VOLUNTEERS NOT WELCOME oat volunteers in crops this autumn.”

Simon explained that volunteer oats were extremely competitive in winter cereals and should be controlled early, with evidence suggesting that just five plants/m² can cause a 5% yield decline.

“Even if you only have a few plants in your crops at the moment, don’t leave control until the spring, because by the time it comes to it, you’ll have already incurred a yield penalty,” he said.

“One of the main problems with volunteer oats is

they are more difficult to manage than wild oats and there’s a limited armoury of products available that effectively control them. In response to queries from growers and agronomists, we’ve been recommending the use of Foxtrot, which has demonstrated more consistent and improved control of volunteer oats than other available products,” he said.

He suggested growers should apply herbicides as soon as they think the majority of the seed has germinated, to reduce the yield penalty.

Agricultural Contraccng and Earthwork Services

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43

AGRONOMY PETER BRUNDLE

Hutchinsons T: 07774 707494 E: peter.brundle@hlhltd.co.uk Canterbury: 01227 830064 www.hlhltd.co.uk

44

Farmers planning to grow maize next year should consider placing seed orders well in advance to secure their preferred variety.

The crop has seen increasing demand over recent seasons and this year there is the added complication of the uncertainty about how Brexit will affect trade with Europe and elsewhere, Hutchinsons southern seeds manager Peter Brundle explains.

“This uncertainty means many seed suppliers are planning to bring stocks of key varieties into the UK earlier than normal to avoid disruption to supplies in the event of a ‘no-deal’ outcome to Brexit negotiations.

“Generally growers start to order seed before Christmas, with the ordering window going right through to the spring, and some waiting until March or April before making a decision. Given the uncertainty around Brexit and the growing popularity of maize, growers really should consider ordering earlier this year to secure preferred varieties.”

ORDER EARLY

TO SECURE PREFERRED

MAIZE SEED

SELECT VARIETIES CAREFULLY

Whether maize is being grown for silage to feed livestock, for biogas production or for grain, the list of varieties is extensive and so making a selection is challenging. Below, Mr Brundle picks out a few key choices that have performed consistently over recent years.

“Perez and Duxxbury are both very early maturing varieties (FAO 160) that manage to combine this with high yields and good quality, suiting growers wanting an early harvest.

“Among the early maturing varieties (FAO 170-190), P7326 was the best-selling Hutchinsons variety in 2020, given its suitability to maritime climates, flexibility to grow on less favourable sites where heat is limiting and fitness for favourable sites when early harvest is required.

“Prospect is one of the top early varieties on the BSPB/NIAB list for dry matter yield at 103%.

The combination of high starch and the highest cell wall digestibility of any early variety, helps Prospect be one of the highest ME yielding varieties on the list.

“Autens delivers consistent bulk dry matter and higher grain content for added starch percentage, making it suitable for grain, silage and biogas production. P7034 also suits all three end uses and

SEED TREATMENT CHANGES

continues to grow in popularity. Ambition, Glory and Agiraxx also remain popular.”

Among the intermediate maturing varieties (FAO 200-220), Mr Brundle picks P7524 for its early vigour and high yield, Movanna for its good agronomics and standing power and Keops for its wide drilling window and flexibility of use. P7948 was introduced in 2020 and looks an exciting prospect for the AD sector.

Of the late maturing varieties (FAO 230-250), Indexx continues to be Hutchinsons’ best-selling late biogas variety, particularly suited to the east, while P8200 is a large stature hybrid that performs well on favourable sites in the open or a wide range of sites under film. Amaroc has proved itself popular and consistent.

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

• Following the revocation of Mesurol (methiocarb) in 2020, Korit was used extensively last season as an effective bird repellent.

• In 2021 Korit (Ziram 420 g/l) will be used in conjunction with the fungicide Redigo M (prothioconazole + metalaxyl), by many suppliers. Trace elements and growth promotion products are also being offered by some suppliers to improve establishment, notes Peter Brundle.

• Sonido (thiacloprid) can no longer be used for wireworm control and will be replaced with Force (tefluthrin).

VET DIARY

MEGASTART EWE&LAMB

MASTITIS AND WINTER HOUSING

Environmental pathogens are the most common cause of clinical mastitis in the majority of UK dairy herds. While poached paddocks, flies and heat stress are all risk factors for mastitis during the summer, it seems the greatest risk for a lot of dairies is during the fast approaching winter housing period.

The introduction of inorganic bedding materials, such as sand, dramatically improves cow comfort within cubicle houses but also reduces the risk of mastitis by preventing growth of bacteria within the bedding. Sand does come with its challenges, and while mats and mattresses also provide an inert lying surface, the addition of sawdust or straw can mean the beds harbour mastitis bacteria.

For those using straw yards, managing deep litter for comfort while reducing bacterial load within the bedding is often the most challenging winter housing environment. Stripping everything back to basics and finding a tape measure is a good starting point. For straw yards, to minimise mastitis cows require an effective lying area of 1.25m2 per 1000 litres of milk per cow per annum, in combination with 105kg straw per cow per week.

Cubicle dimension recommendations will vary for the breed of cow. I find observing their behaviour manoeuvring in-and-out of the cubicles and monitoring hock lesions are good indicators of correct use and comfort. Minimising stress and maximising cleanliness are also huge players in reducing the risk of developing mastitis. We can start by assessing feed, loafing and water space alongside ventilation and cow flow during housing.

While prevention is still the key, many mastitis tubes are difficult to source in the current climate. Lots of broad-spectrum products are currently unavailable due to manufacturer issues, so it has never been more important to understand the main mastitis pathogens and their susceptibility to antibiotics. This can be achieved by collecting clinical mastitis milk samples. Make sure you speak to your vets about culture and sensitivity to ensure we understand the best treatments for your cows.

This winter I will be trialing the use of the new UBAC© vaccine in an organic dairy herd. It is licensed for prevention of Streptococcus uberus, a common environmental cause of mastitis. I am interested to see how it will aid in mastitis prevention alongside reduced stocking density for one of my clients with a particularly challenging straw yard! Remember, for this vaccine to be beneficial we need to first identify Strep. uberis as the main problem on your farm – let’s get culturing!

CARMEN PENGELLY

BSc BVSc MRCVS, Cliffe Veterinary Group T: 01273 473232 E: carmen@cliffevets.co.uk www.cliffefarm.co.uk

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WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

45

AT COLCHESTER MARKET

GRAHAM ELLIS FRICS FAAV FLAA

For and on behalf of Stanfords T: 01206 842156 E: info@stanfords-colchester.co.uk www.stanfords-colchester.co.uk

46

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With winter now upon us and Christmas fast approaching, trade for prime cattle continued to be strong, with best handy weight steers and heifers still extremely short of requirements each week. Butchers and local wholesalers were competing for all stock which was pleasing to see and shows the strength of the auction system.

Cull cattle are in greater numbers, with many lean sorts purchased for further feeding, but meated sorts are still wanted although this section is adversely affected if stock are not FABBL registered.

The store cattle trade is still strong for forward sorts, with finishers keen to replace stock, but the trade for longer keep stores is more selective, with the shortage of fodder and straw causing concern to buyers. Quality, however, in all sections is still a sharp trade. The sheep trade continued at high levels compared with the historic trade at this time of year, with meat again paying. While lean lambs reduced the average price, those producers feeding lambs benefited.

There were still plenty of prime lambs at £100 and above, which is remarkable for this time of year.

Ewes saw numbers increasing with, again as usual for the time of year, lean ewes taken for further feeding with strong ewes short of requirement. Store lambs are a very strong trade, with concerns over Brexit not adversely affecting demand as feeders look for stock to eat fodder crops.

The pig trade is under pressure, with high food prices having a serious impact as prime pig prices fall with available numbers generally above demand. The cull sow trade is still in the doldrums and at very low levels, putting still more pressure on producers.

As this report was being written, cereal values were increasingly good for arable farmers and are needed to offset increased growing costs and low yields, but this is certainly putting pressure on livestock producers who are finishing stock.

We are intending to hold our Annual Prime Stock Show and Sale on 1 December, with classes for cattle and sheep, to enable our vendors to show their stock and buyers to purchase the tremendous quality cattle and sheep produced in this area for the Christmas trade.

AT ASHFORD MARKET

As the country returns to the position of lockdown, those of us in the livestock market sector, and indeed much of the production level of agriculture, can be grateful that we have been less affected by Covid-19 than most of the rest of the economy.

Twenty years ago, we had our exposure to a virus that decimated much of the livestock sector and drastically altered the livestock market sector. It took 12 months for markets to re-open and longer for normality to return. It took some time to recover but recover it did, with changes, and ultimately it is now in a stronger position to cope with the demands of the 21st century.

Covid-19 is, of course, at a different level and harder to control because unlike livestock, which had no say in their options, humans are far harder to control and of course have a wide variety of opinions to voice. So, at Ashford, we were grateful that the importance of markets was immediately recognised by government and remained open. We have been grateful for the help and support from buyers and sellers, hauliers and staff and we have been grateful that we are at the centre of a sector that is critical to life itself – food!

Winter 2019 was awful, with not just the weather against us but livestock prices sliding deep into the doldrums and genuine concerns amongst producers. Initially, once Covid-19 had arrived, the key issue was to ensure that established supply links in the agricultural and food sectors were maintained, re-worked and adjusted.

Catering suffered badly and still does, but

WHAT A YEAR! remarkably the adjustment from ‘eating out’ to ‘eating in’ took place to the benefit of all retailers.

Interestingly and correctly, local butchers and farm shops have enjoyed strong support and have done very good business as consumers thought more of convenience, provenance and exposure and consequently have shopped locally.

This turnaround in demand has been the story of the year in the beef sector. Steadily improving beef prices and returns filtered into stronger spring store cattle prices, and by the end of the spring season high numbers at high prices had returned promise to the beef sector.

The summer of 2020, in the South East at least, will be remembered for a significant drought, short hay and silage crops, coupled with the disastrously short straw yield which could have spelt disaster for so many producers committed to taking stock through another winter. The demand for beef, prime and processed, however, kept on running.

Ashford’s standing as a market of national influence shone out with the facilities to handle the large numbers of stock and the immediate access to the motorway system which helps attract buyers from all corners of the country.

The rest of the country did not suffer from a dry summer, and while straw is tight, feed is plentiful and they have wanted stock. Right from the early

sales in July, store cattle and sheep have been sold in record numbers to many new customers to Ashford attracted by the quality and consistency of the stock from the South East.

With big numbers of store cattle still to come, in early November store cattle numbers sold have increased by a massive 44%, accompanied by a rise in price of 20%. This is welcome news to producers who might otherwise have feared the worst. Both cull cows and prime finished cattle numbers have risen by 40% over 2019 figures and their returns are both a very positive 16% up on the year.

The importance of the open market is so critical in being able to react to the whole variety of circumstances, locally, nationally and internationally, that are thrown at us. Nobody wants a pandemic, nobody wants a wet winter or a dry summer, but everybody should want a marketplace that works for everybody, whatever the circumstances.

PETER KINGWILL Reporting on the cattle market at Ashford T: 01233 502222

www.hobbsparker.co.uk

CLOSE TO CARBON NEUTRAL The National Sheep Association (NSA) has welcomed a report from the Auckland University of Technology suggesting that New Zealand sheep and beef farms are close to becoming carbon neutral.

The report’s conclusion that New Zealand farms can have 63 to 118% of their on-farm agricultural emissions offset when accounting for carbon sequestration is being seen as exciting news by UK livestock farmers who have much in common with their Southern Hemisphere counterparts.

The NSA was quick to emphasise the similarities with UK sheep farming and highlight its potential to achieve the same results.

Chief Executive Phil Stocker commented: “The UK sheep sector has many similarities with that in New Zealand, given that our sheep industries are both predominantly grass fed and pastoral in nature. In fact, our grassland has a low dependence on artificial inputs and has a high proportion of its area in agri environment schemes that promote the environmental management of hedges and trees.

“Importantly, this new research work is valuable to us in that it measured the carbon held in vegetation and farm habitats in the same way as the forestry sector has measured carbon held in woodland and forests. Recent research from the Rothamsted Institute has shown the soil quality beneath our grasslands is equal to the soil quality in woodlands – the missing bit of the equation has been the role of vegetation, with that work never having been done for grassland."

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The NSA has previously aired concerns that current methods for measuring carbon may not paint an accurate picture of the impact of livestock farming.

Mr Stocker suggested that carbon sequestration tools still used outdated GWP (Global Warming Potential) figures rather than new data from Oxford University that showed methane has a shorter life cycle than other gasses and does not accumulate to the same extent in the atmosphere.

“What scientists also ignore is that we have to look at land management on a multi-functional basis,” he added. “Our sheep farmers are managing one of our most precious resources, while also producing nutritious food from it. Grassland builds and stores soil carbon as well as creating wildlife habitats, it enables people to improve their mental and physical wellbeing, and it avoids wildfires with their huge environmental consequences.”

WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

47

ALAN WEST SHEEP TOPICS

INTERESTING TIMES FOR 48

SHEEP PRODUCERS

As if sheep producers across the UK had not had an agricultural industry and British food. “interesting” enough year to date, the events of the All things considered, it would not seem unreasonable, ALAN WEST week beginning Sunday 11 October made things a in a democratic country, to have expected a positive Sheep farmer lot more “interesting”. I refer to events that should response and reciprocal support from government have made sheep (livestock) producers across the when the Lords amendments to the Agricultural Bill UK sit up and take notice, although sadly, I suspect, came before Parliament. Sadly, the confidence and simply passed many by. expectations of farmers took a severe battering, when, Results from a recent public opinion poll by Save first of all, there was an almost complete lack of any British Farming show that 78% think we have high welfare standards for our support for the proposal to establish the, currently temporary, Trade and farm livestock, 81% want welfare standards maintained or strengthened Agriculture Commission as a permanent body, and for proposals to reinforce the and 68% want some legal protection for those standards. In addition, 92% position of welfare, environmental, carbon reduction and food standards; it is thought that welfare standards should be maintained within any third-party only food standards that have any existing legislative protection. trade negotiations and 74% were opposed to imports of foods produced to Both those measures were targeted at improving the scrutiny of future trade low welfare standards. Add to this the 95% that thought that our high food negotiations and helping to protect British producers from being undercut by standards should be maintained and the 86% who are concerned that currently cheap, poor quality imports of agricultural products; imports that, potentially, banned food imports may, in the future, be used in schools, hospitals etc. could be produced employing systems, standards of production and materials Given those figures, it is reasonable to think that we have a fairly convincing that are deemed illegal in the UK. When the debate moved to a vote, however, case for some government support for maintaining our domestic welfare in spite of all the rhetoric, the amendments were rejected by a government and food standards; plus the additional considerations that we ought to be majority of 53, with only a disappointing 14 Conservative MPs voting in support giving to environmental and carbon reduction measures. The case is further of UK farmers. strengthened when one adds in the overwhelming public support for the The second key issue was the declaration by the Government at the end of campaigns by NFU and other farming organisations to gather support for the the week that as there had been no significant changes in the EU’s negotiating position, further talks would effectively cease and the country should prepare for a no-deal Brexit.

Both of these issues are rather more complex than the impression conveyed by large sections of the media, who do tend to be rather partisan and like to inflate their own views; more informed comment is readily accessible and available via a quick internet search for those who want a rather more balanced Grass, forage or cover crops. view. Some pundits are, however, suggesting that in this sort of scenario, unless Any area over 20 acres considered, fencing can be supplied. adequate support, financial or otherwise, is provided to enable farmers to Good rates paid depending on acreage and grazing period.

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DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

LIVESTOCK

maintain legal standards of welfare, environment and food safety, we could see the future viability of up to 25% of UK farm businesses put at risk.

As damaging as the implications may be for the sheep sector, they currently remain only as potential threats; there is always the possibility that everything could change once again. Sudden and abrupt changes of direction, some would say U-turns, are almost becoming an integral part of political life. However, the fact that things are still very much unresolved, with a relatively small window remaining to arrive at some positive settlement, does not mean that all will be well in the end (the apparent default position for many).

It is in nobody’s interest to simply ignore the possible risks. We should all be exploring possible strategies to address the potential impact of a worst-case scenario; panic is not a reasonable strategy. The future of the sheep sector still depends on decisions made, by government, over the next few weeks. In spite of all the rhetoric and promises to support farmers, we all know that the success of Brexit, in whatever format that may be, will be judged by the impact on the UK economy and on the trade deals that follow our departure from the EU. Unfortunately, there is very little in recent experience that would support too much optimism; the majority of government has now, somewhat desperately, boarded the bus to post-Brexit trade deals, deals at any cost, and farmers appear to be among the casualties, thrown under the bus.

On a more positive note, tupping is now well underway for many, with early reports seeming to indicate that things are progressing at quite a pace. Ewes seem to have gone to the ram in good condition, in spite of several months of drought conditions and an absolutely dreadful summer for grass growth in much of the South East (Kent and Sussex in particular). For some, particularly those that have used teaser rams, ewes have taken the ram at an alarming rate; the first week of lambing could be very busy; even without teasing we had 50% cover within seven days of the tups joining the ewes.

Sheep do seem to enjoy (trying not to be anthropomorphic) and thrive in, hot, dry weather, something that no doubt belies their Middle Eastern origins, but they do need to have adequate supplies of feed in front of them. The period between weaning and tupping is, in terms of lambing performance, the most critical in the sheep cycle of production; failure to get ewes in the right condition at this point in time, (BCS 3.0 to 3.5) may cost dearly in terms of poor lambing performance next spring, and costs saved now can be very expensive in the long run.

Some producers needed to resort to providing a bit of supplementary feed for ewes in order to achieve the correct condition for tupping, while others were rather more fortunate, with the welcome rain arriving just in time to produce a decent wedge of autumn grass on which to build condition and flush ewes.

Unfortunately we fell into the former camp, which means additional costs, but you do what you need to do. As usual some breeds seem to cope better than others with adverse conditions, but to avoid accusations of bias I will say no more.

At least we have had plenty of rain recently. Some would say too much (but that’s farmers), and all the time it remains warm enough to maintain soil temperatures above 7°C, grass growth will continue, all being well building up enough of a grass wedge to carry sheep into or through the winter; our target is always to all grass winter. Unfortunately for some, grass has been slow to recover, largely as a result of the hammering it received over the summer; grass is, in general, a remarkably resilient crop, but there are limits, and I know that some have needed to resort to over-seeding or reseeding the areas that have been impacted the most and really struggled to recover. On the positive side, this offers a potential opportunity for some to improve swards, particularly on permanent pasture. I have certainly taken the opportunity to stich some improved grasses and herbs into some of the thinner patches, and the ewes will no doubt benefit next spring.

Good luck with tupping, even if the future market for those lambs being conceived is uncertain. Consider your options, plan for the worst and hope for the best; who knows, we may see a few more U-turns and everything might, just might, turn out alright.

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KEEPING SCAB

IN CHECK

An “open and honest” approach to scab by sheep farmers could make a big difference to keeping the disease in check, South East Farmer’s own Alan West has stressed.

Alan, who writes for the magazine each month, was responding to the suggestion that farmers bringing any sheep onto their farm this autumn and winter with an unknown sheep scab status should assume they have scab and manage appropriately.

The warning came from Advanced Veterinary Practitioner Joe Henry, of Black Sheep Farm Health, who said sheep scab was a real threat at this time of the year because of the volume of sheep movements taking place.

Joe’s advice that “any new arrivals should be viewed as a potential source of infection” was supported by sheep specialist Emily Gascoigne from Synergy Farm Health, who said that with Covid-19 leading to more online sales and sheep being sold direct from the holding, farmers should ideally conduct pre-purchase blood serology (ELISA) tests.

“Blood serology will give you an idea if sheep have been infected and can reduce the need for treatment,” she said, adding: “It is important you don’t share trailers with flocks of an unknown status and also ensure transport is thoroughly disinfected to avoid the scab mite being transmitted en-route.”

Emily also encouraged farmers to conduct blood serology on their own flock. “Knowing your flock's own scab status can help you manage the situation. Where there may have been contact with another flock at a boundary, or shared equipment, this may be as much of a risk as newly purchased animals,” she said.

“Testing can also be particularly useful in organic flocks pre-purchase where the use of Organophosphate Dips (OP) are not permitted,” she added.

Alan West agreed that farmers buying in animals from store and breeding sheep sales needed to be aware of the risk and “ask the right questions”.

He added: “If there is any suspicion arising from purchased sheep, treatment should be initiated promptly, with diagnosis confirmed by a vet if necessary, but anyone who has kept sheep for a while will recognise the symptoms.”

And he stressed that farmers needed to get better at communicating, pointing out: “The tendency for any producer that discovers scab in his/her flock is to just get on and treat it and not tell anybody. In Scotland it was reintroduced to the list of notifiable diseases in 2010, but in England and wales there is only a legal requirement to treat, not notify.

“Sheep Scab is highly contagious, almost always by sheep to sheep contact, which may even be through a fence, so to achieve effective control in a given area, people need to know of any increased risk.

“Rather than regarding it as a badge of shame, any producer who has a scab outbreak should be open and honest and raise awareness amongst neighbouring farms with sheep, particularly those that may share a boundary. We are not very good at communicating sometimes.”

WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

49

ADVICE FROM THE VET

PRE-LAMBING PREPARATION Looking after the ewe at lambing time.

Getting nutrition right in the last stage of pregnancy is essential. Ewe nutrition will directly affect the incidence of: • pregnancy related disease • colostrum quality and quantity and hence lamb disease • foetal growth in the last six weeks of pregnancy and wool deposition, which can help to reduce hypothermia • milk production and therefore lamb productivity.

Ultimately nutrition is key to reducing disease and ensuring optimal productivity. Tools to assess nutrition in the late stages of pregnancy are:

BCS

Body condition scoring (BCS) your ewes will help you manage their nutrition (see table below).

Identifying low BCS early gives you time to make changes to feeding before lambing.

50

Body condition score targets from AHDB 2017 Hill

Upland

Lowland

Tupping

2.5

3.0

3.5

Mid-pregnancy

2.0

2.5

3.0

Late-pregnancy

2.0

2.5

3.0

Lambing

2.0

2.2

3.0

8 weeks post

2.0

2.0-2.5

2.5-3.0

Weaning

2.0

2.0

2.5

METABOLIC PROFILES

Metabolic profiling can be used along with BCS. It is a more immediate diagnostic tool for monitoring ewe nutrition in late pregnancy (three to four weeks prior to lambing). The main purpose is to assess risk of twin lamb disease. Blood samples are taken to assess urea (BUN), an indicator of short-term protein intake, and BHBs to assess ewe energy reserves.

EWE DISEASES SEEN IN THE LAST TRIMESTER OF PREGNANCY Ones to watch for:

TWIN LAMB DISEASE/ PREGNANCY TOXEMIA

Twin lamb disease is a metabolic disease that occurs when the ewe’s nutrition is not meeting the demands of her growing foetus(s) resulting in low blood glucose.

Signs: separation from the flock, depression, star gazing, blindness, muscle tremors and collapse.

Treatment: oral solutions containing glucose and calcium, food, and water with electrolytes.

Early treatment increases the chances of recovery.

Unresponsive cases may need a c-section or euthanasia.

HYPOCALCEMIA

Hypocalcaemia is a low level of blood calcium due to an increased demand from the growing foetus and milk production.

Signs: wobbliness or lying down very still, dullness, increased breathing rate, a slight green discharge from the nose, and bloat.

Treatment: oral calcium preparation (injectable Calciject is no longer available).

PROLAPSES

Prolapse is when the vagina is pushed out of the ewe’s vulva.

Signs: appears as a red mass, varying in size from a tennis ball to a melon. Prolapses can occur in the last month of pregnancy.

Treatment: prolapses should be replaced quickly to prevent further damage to the vagina.

Early, small ones can be held in with a harness or retention spoon (spoons may increase risk of infection). Severe ones may need a Buhner suture – which should only be performed by a vet following administration of an epidural injection, which is essential to numb the area, reduce straining and ease replacement of the prolapse.

CARE OF THE EWE DURING ASSISTED LAMBINGS

Be prepared. Have a checklist of everything you might need to assist a ewe with lambing.

Wear gloves and use lots of lube. Both will reduce trauma to the ewe when examining ewes and correcting mal presentations.

Wearing gloves will also reduce the introduction of bacteria to the vaginal tract. If not wearing gloves, then clean hands properly – something we are all familiar with now.

MEGAN HARMAN

Bsc BVetMed MRCVS Westpoint Ashford

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

> Ewe with vaginal prolapse

POST-LAMBING CARE

Be kind to your ewes – TLC. If a ewe has required assistance or the lambing has been difficult, tissues will have been bruised or torn, and there is a risk of infection in some cases. The ewe may be down for a while afterwards and/or unwilling to feed. TLC will go a long way towards getting these ewes up, eating and feeding their lambs.

• Reduce pain and inflammation: use a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory.

• Offer plenty of water to replace fluid lost during lambing and ensure milk production. An easy way to ensure they have fluids is by using a ewe drencher.

• Provide clean, comfy bedding.

• Help lambs feed to ensure colostrum intake.

For further advice please discuss prevention and treatment plans with your vet in advance.

How can Westpoint help you this lambing season? We provide lambing courses, metabolic profiles, abortion investigations and investigations of lamb losses so do get in touch.

ANDY RICHMOND KATHY HUME

Westpoint Horsham Westpoint Ashford T: 01306 628086 T: 01306 628208 E: info@westpointfarmvets.co.uk www.westpointfarmvets.co.uk

JOHN MCALOON

Westpoint Sevenoaks T: 01959 564383

WEST SUSSEX DIARY NICK ADAMES

There are not many things we have to thank this damned virus for, but I have discovered a quite unusual one. At least that’s what I put it down to. I am talking about the excellent South East Farmer and Farm Machinery magazine which accompanies these issues. I have used it, in its different formats, for years with above average success, but recently, post virus, my phone ran hot for a few days with enquiries.

First of all I put this down to the prices the items were advertised at, but I don’t think I was selling too cheaply. Then it occurred to me, looking at the restrictions required by auctioneers for attendees at farm sales, that many people who attended the traditional ‘farm collective sales’ would not be inclined to comply with the terms; registering, wearing masks, social distancing etc, and so would look elsewhere for their various requirements. So where better than the local advertiser?

I advertised some six or eight items a couple of issues ago and the interest was almost quite a worry. Had I mispriced that much? People were calling and travelling at short notice from all over Kent, Hampshire and Surrey, paying the asking prices and almost always taking stuff away. They were all seemingly happy with their purchases and usually had a good chat with no masks and no other restrictions.

So I suppose the thing to learn from this is to get a move on if you have some old stuff to sell, whilst the virus is still around. If you await a vaccine it might give you better odds of living, but you will miss these keen buyers. Of course, if you are like me, you may not be too fussed about yet another virus which most of us, particularly those who have worked with cattle most our lifetimes, will probably have built up an immunity to long ago, in any case.

I have nothing further to report on the ‘vandal’ front. I think ‘school’, wetter and shorter evenings and considerably more recent interest by the police have all had their effect. It is a relief also that no one has been injured. Now we will need to wait until next spring to see if lessons have been learned, although there will be a whole new generation of upcoming teenagers seeking mischief.

In the meantime we will have to get a lot of roof sheets and windows replaced. Ready for next year.

One of the things we will miss this winter will be our visits to Ernest Fenton’s excellent curling establishment just south of Tunbridge Wells. We have curled there as a group since it was built in around 2004/5. Going over once every two weeks, it speeds the winter months past at an amazing rate. We usually manage to get four or six teams and fill the place up for a couple of

TO ADVERTISE CALL 01303 233883

PHONE RAN HOT WITH ENQUIRIES > A group of Sussex farmers at Fenton’s curling rink around 2010, including the author (back row, centre) and his wife

51 hours before adjourning to nearby Frant, where we spend another two hours or more being fed and watered by Greg Elliot and his excellent staff at the George Inn. I can only recommend you try the same thing.

If you don’t know how to play, Tracey will give you enough tips to be going on with and if you have any competitive juices I will defy you to say you did not enjoy the experience. Just make sure you concentrate, and don’t fall over because they say the ice gets much harder the older you get!

Now I hear you saying, if you are still with me: “He doesn’t do any farming these days…”

Well, you would be wrong. Just last month I was enticed into buying a brand new hedge cutter (from Bob Horne, ‘Blower’ to his friends, still very active in machinery sales from his base in Chichester) to replace my 40 year-old machine and allow me to get our somewhat overgrown hedges back into some semblance of control.

For many years I have always done the work annually, cutting them back so the fencers could check for broken posts and wires, but we have not worried too much about overhanging branches until they look dangerous. Remember we were dairy farmers, and the herd needs plenty of well protected and shady meadows; protection from wind, rain and sun. Now that’s all changed and we have to be able to get today’s huge new machinery pretty close to the field boundaries,

or close enough, without incurring the wrath brought on by the drones, or satellite imagery, used by the over zealous RPA. These posed no problem with the cattle, because they could graze everything out to the fences, but machine drivers have to abide by today’s latest dictats, whereby if one ploughs a foot too tight it’s pretty certain a letter or email will arrive from some official dogsbody telling you that you risk forfeiting part of the diminishing grants presently available under the Basic Payments Scheme. Personally I hate these schemes, always have, since I was just starting to take over from the Old Man, because I believe a farmer should be able to get fair prices from the market to live without subsidy. If we could do that we could also be free of politicians, the majority of whom simply don’t understand the reason for farmers.

Nevertheless the ‘world still turns’, despite the ongoing infighting about the (hopefully) upcoming removal of a clearly mentally disturbed US President while almost equally deranged British politicians conspire to stay in the EU and squabble, with extraordinary hindsight, over the best way to defeat the virus.

Editor’s note: Nick is free to express his forthright opinions, but South East Farmer has seen no evidence that working with cattle provides immunity to Covid19. Please stay safe out there.

WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

Legal services for farmers & rural businesses Call us today or visit our website:

52

Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) entitlement values and greening rates published this month by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) show a slight increase in this year’s figures.

The Basic Payment Scheme is the biggest of the rural grants and payments that support the farming industry, with payments expected to appear in farmers’ bank accounts from December.

Earlier this year, the RPA extended deadlines by a month to allow farmers more time to submit their BPS applications, Countryside Stewardship revenue and Environmental Stewardship claims. The RPA has said that even after allowing for this extension, it has made “good progress” in processing and preparing payments ahead of the payment window opening in December.

Farmers have also been warned to remain vigilant against fraud when dealing with BPS payments.

Despite the challenges caused this year by the Covid-19 pandemic, the RPA met its target of paying 95% of 2019 claims for Countryside and Environmental Stewardship schemes by the end of June, bringing forward payment timescales by six months, as well as exceeding its performance target for processing last year’s BPS payments.

The slight increase in farmers’ payments this year follows the decision not to make the usual financial discipline mechanism deduction from 2020 payments. This was previously used to support an EU crisis fund.

BPS payments for England are set in Euros and then converted into sterling. The BPS exchange rate for 2020 will be the same as 2019 at €1 = £0.89092.

Under BPS, farmers need to hold an entitlement for every hectare of eligible land they claim for. The size of farmers’ payments will depend on how many entitlements they use, supported by eligible land, and the value of those entitlements.

The greening rates have been calculated by taking the number of entitlements farmers have

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ENTITLEMENT

VALUES AND GREENING RATES

PUBLISHED RATES IN STERLING

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£162.771

£161.559

£44.332

Greening rate

£70.445

£70.008

£19.618

used with eligible land to claim payment and multiplying them by the greening value.

Farmers have been warned to be alert to the possibility of fraud and to remember: • Your bank, police or the RPA will never ask you to reveal your online password, PIN or bank account details or ask you to make a payment over the telephone • Never disclose personal information to someone you don’t know or open unknown or unexpected computer links or emails

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

• If in doubt, call the organisation back, ideally on a different telephone, using a number you are familiar with or you know to be official. You can find this on the organisation’s website, correspondence or statement.

Anyone who thinks they may have been a victim of fraud should contact Action Fraud immediately on 0300 123 2040 or visit the Action Fraud website.

LEGAL

TEN SIMPLE WAYS TO CONTROL AND

PROTECT YOUR ASSETS There is no doubt we are facing turbulent and uncertain times; the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a still unsettled Brexit and the Agriculture Bill are all causing a sense of unease. This means asserting control over your personal and business life has never been more vital.

1. Avoid intestacy – make a Will: Making a Will gives you control over the future of your farming business, ensuring it ends up passing to those you choose. The fall-back provisions if you don’t are governed by the rules of intestacy. Your farm may pass to those you would never have intended to inherit it, or become part of a legal battle between your loved ones.

2. Make a financial and property affairs lasting power of attorney (LPA): If you become temporarily or permanently physically or mentally incapable, your next of kin, or others in the family business, do not automatically have the right to continue to make decisions on your behalf. Make a personal and, if appropriate, a business LPA containing provisions to ensure the business can continue to run no matter the circumstances.

3. Don’t forget health and welfare LPAs: No one likes to consider losing their mental faculties, but failing to plan for it can put your family in a difficult situation. A health and welfare LPA gives your loved ones the power to make vital medical and welfare decisions.

4. Seek specialist tax advice: There are certain Inheritance Tax (IHT) exemptions and reliefs in place for agricultural and business properties.

Periodically review your assets, as it can often be the case that family farming businesses undergo changes that affect their tax efficiency. With good legal and financial advice there may well be ways of improving the situation and avoiding traps.

5. Consider lifetime trusts: It is becoming increasingly common for landowners to sell their land to developers or to develop it themselves. However, land which has not yet been sold but has been earmarked for development, reflecting what is called ‘hope value’, can lead to unexpected tax bills. It is possible to remove the land from the owner’s estate at a lower market value and avoid a larger IHT charge on death to keep the increase in value within the trust rather than within the owner’s personal estate.

6. Review your business structure: Review the structure of your farming business, whether partnership or company, and the business tenancies. A properly framed agreement will allow your farming business to continue if a partner retires or dies or if a new partner is brought into the business. In a worst-case scenario, the existing partnership may end and a new one would be required. This could have negative and unintended legal and tax consequences.

7. Retirement planning: It is important not to put yourself at risk of retirement poverty and to seek advice from professional advisers at an early stage to plan for your future security.

8. Consider diversification: Think laterally and explore the potential to increase your income through diversification of your land and property outside the sphere of traditional farming practices.

9. When loved ones die: Engage professional help with estate administration. Although your farming business may qualify for agricultural and business tax reliefs, you will need specialist advice to ensure they are claimed and the assets passed smoothly down to the next generation.

10. Don’t make promises you can’t keep: Avoid making promises to family members, either those in the family business or not, which you do not fulfil. This can lead to potential claims, for example on your death.

Ultimately, planning is key. As former US president Abraham Lincoln famously said: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Grab the chance to control what you can and plan ahead.

MARY RIMMER

Partner, Private Client, Brachers LLP T: 01622 655296 E: maryrimmer@brachers.co.uk www.brachers.co.uk

Helping our agricultural community to thrive and grow Legal services which deliver long-term solutions to support the future of farming Call us on 01622 690691 Visit us at brachers.co.uk

TO ADVERTISE CALL 01303 233883

WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

53

LAND AND FARMS

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

54

In the end the finale was something of a disappointment.

Fifteen years after my appointment as Executor for the administration of what has felt like a modern-day version of Jarndyce & Jarndyce (the longrunning legal dispute in Dickens’ Bleak House), we sat in splendid isolation on a Zoom conference.

We listened to learned gentlemen debate in hushed and terribly polite tones the facts, and conclude that our suggestions for a Variation Order to the Will were acceptable and that having got all 12 adult beneficiaries to agree (plus agreement on behalf of minor and even unborn beneficiaries), the Will Trust could be formed.

July 2005 until October 2020. Let that time period settle in your mind.

Contemplate your expected legal fees – choose the higher number in your mind, multiply it by 15, throw in four barristers and a judge for good measure.

Then add the dreaded land agent and three sets of accountants. Get your inheritance planning right and watertight now to avoid the above.

If you have been reading my articles over the past 15 years, you will know this theme. The battle to conclude matters for a family with a thin, badly drafted Will missing a crucial paragraph has become something of an obsession.

The lesson is a simple one. Do not expect your conveyancing solicitor (with respect to all conveyancing solicitors) to have the required experience or breadth of knowledge to write a sufficiently strong Will to cope with the modern multifaceted estate, your family and the ever-changing legal system.

The starting point is a simple one. Be very, very clear about what you would like to happen and how you would like it to happen. Then make sure that your solicitor and accountant understand what you are trying to achieve and get them to confirm in writing that your plans are deliverable after your death and explain the consequences of delivery legally and as far as the taxman is concerned.

Do you want to give half away before you start? Some estate inheritance plans are so flawed that you may as well give the lawyers a cheque for a million and sell the farm now, sending the taxman a cheque for 40% while you are at it.

Incidentally, the advice and signals are that whatever colour government comes next, inheritance planning is only going to get harder, with some commentators predicting the ‘trading test’ to qualify for Business Property Relief from Inheritance Tax moving from 50% to 80% - a challenge that needs facing now rather than from your death bed.

As 2020 slips by, the new Will Trustees on the business I’m involved with are moving quickly to reposition the estate as far as IHT is concerned and make the most of a set of assets that, while actively employed, have not been driven. Where do you drive an estate with no agreed plan? Income? Capital?

Income and capital? Build up? Dispose and distribute? There is now an interesting and challenging opportunity to make an estate work for the family

• Farm and Estate Management • Farm Business Consultancy • Viticulture • Countryside Stewardship • Ecological Surveys • Planning Applications

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

long into the future. Particularly for this one, which begins to leave behind that lingering feeling that everything is in mothballs until the lawyers finally agree.

As an aside, don’t expect the accountant or lawyer to give you the solution in isolation. They know the law and are brilliant at what they do. They do not, however, know your business or indeed your family. They are there to help deliver the plan, not write it.

Resting on the gatepost with your eye on the horizon, remember the inflexibility you felt when you were first given your turn to assume control. Try not to inflict the same inflexibility on your beneficiaries. The only constant is change, and the only certainty is that your descendants will do it differently in a different world.

In 2020 we have seen forward-thinking farmers and landowners evolve their estates quickly and carefully, attempting to future proof. There are many unknowns, but dealing with some of the certainties protects your family by providing clarity and a road map to follow when they will be battling not only with business challenges but also with grief. You will know already that grief does not bring clarity. If you achieve that and avoid chaos in your wake, you can rest easy.

MARK WEAVER

Managing director, CLM T: 01892 770339 www.c-l-m.co.uk

Call us on 01892 770339 or email info@c-l-m.co.uk www.c-l-m.co.uk

LAND AND FARMS NEAR TROTTON | WEST SUSSEX

GUIDE: £4,275,000

468 ACRES

ATTRACTIVE FARMLAND WITH

DIVERSIFICATION OPPORTUNITIES A block of 468 acres of productive arable land and woodland in West Sussex has come to the market through Savills.

Dumpford Manor Farm is in a sought-after setting at the foot of the South Downs on the West Sussex and Hampshire border.

The land is actively managed and generates a significant income from let agricultural, residential and sporting assets. The farmland is let on two farm business tenancies and there is also a pair of semi-detached cottages, currently let on assured shorthold tenancies, with potential to extend or create a single dwelling, subject to planning permission.

The 180 acres of woodland is managed for timber production by the current owners, with 78% broadleaved, 8% of which is sweet chestnut coppice, and 22% commercial conifers.

Geoff Jones, head of farm agency at Savills Winchester, said: “Set in an attractive, sought-after location, Dumpford Manor Farm comprises productive farmland with significant income streams and further diversification and natural capital opportunities.”

Dumpford Manor Farm is being marketed with a guide price of £4,275,000.

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P O T

K C PI

SELECTED TO PROMOTE STRATEGIC EXTENSION

Catesby Estates, part of master developer Urban&Civic, is pleased to announce they have entered into an agreement to promote a significant and strategic extension to Haverhill, Suffolk. Mike Shaw, Director and Head of National Strategic Development, and Tom Fraser, Director at Savills Cambridge acted on behalf on the landowners.

Catesby Estates is one of the UK’s leading land

TO ADVERTISE CALL 01303 233883

promoters with an enviable record of bringing forward land through the planning system for new homes and communities. Following the exchange of contracts, Catesby Estates will now be moving forward with local stakeholders to deliver this exciting vision for the area.

Totalling 750 acres (304 ha), the site is located across both West Suffolk and Braintree District Authority areas, and has capacity for up to 5,000

new homes alongside additional community facilities including new schools, local centres, employment and leisure use.

Chief Executive of Catesby Estates, Myron Osborne said: “We are delighted to have agreed to work on behalf of the landowners as their land promotion partner. This site has huge potential for delivering high quality new homes and facilities for the area.”

WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

®

ATTENTION all land agents.

Bespoke Planning Advice

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Are you missing out? land and You can advertise Farmer farms in South East 85. from as little as £2 te A great way to crea s buyers. interest from seriou

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CIRENCESTER 01285 323200

office@therpp.co.uk

Chartered Town Planner

A single block of broadleaf woodland and pasture with attractive lake and good road access.

Brokes Wood, Tunbridge Wells •

Commercial/amenity broadleaf woodland

•

Grazing land and spring fed lake

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Natural capital potential

•

About 107 acres

•

Close to Southborough and Tunbridge Wells

Guide £800,000

Richard Mann Savills Sevenoaks rmann@savills.com 07967 555862

Will Banham Lambert and Foster will.banham@lambertandfoster.co.uk 07718 364742

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

LAND AND FARMS TUNBRIDGE WELLS | KENT

GUIDE: OIEO £3,750,000.

APPROX 261 ACRES

DIVERSIFIED RURAL ESTATE BTF Partnership is offering a diversified rural estate in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Ashurst, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent for sale as a whole or in five lots and is quoting a guide price of offers in excess of £3,750,000.

The Manor Court Farm Estate, on the market for the first time since 1955, is just four miles west of Royal Tunbridge Wells. It was originally an arable and dairy farm, but in recent years agricultural operations have focused on arable and sheep enterprises, with the traditional farm buildings converted to alternative uses to provide a useful additional source of income. It also has a popular bed and breakfast and camp site enterprise, with 16 pitches and excellent onsite facilities that can cater for both touring vans and tents.

The estate comprises: • Lot 1 – Manor Court Farmhouse: A Grade II listed Georgian five-bedroom farmhouse

•

•

•

•

currently operating as a bed and breakfast establishment.

Lot 2 – Manor Court Farmyard: A farmyard with a range of former agricultural buildings used for commercial purposes, three permanent residential caravans and a camp site enterprise.

It is considered that there is significant potential for further diversification subject to any necessary consents being obtained.

Lot 3 – Kent Barn and The Old Calf House: A traditional Kent barn and former agricultural building used for storage and commercial purposes and an adjacent parcel of arable land and a woodland shaw. In all about 3.7 acres.

Lot 4 – Manor Court land and buildings: A range of useful agricultural buildings serving 154.28 acres of arable land, 40.15 acres of permanent pasture and 9.37 acres of woodland.

Lot 5 – Land and building at Clayton’s Lane: A picturesque block of pasture extending to 30.44

acres, together with 15.23 acres of woodland and an agricultural building.

Anthony Field, Director at BTF Partnership commented: “The Manor Court Farm Estate provides an excellent opportunity to purchase a well-positioned rural estate which benefits from a diversified income stream with the opportunity for the purchaser to carry out further developments.

Some of the traditional buildings have potential for residential or more intensive commercial use subject to the necessary consents being obtained.

This is a really unique opportunity in a great location.”

There are good road and rail services nearby, with Ashurst Station just three-quarters of a mile away providing a regular service to London Bridge station, and more frequent services from Royal Tunbridge Wells.

A further 18 acres of permanent pasture may be available by separate negotiation.

P O T TO ADVERTISE CALL 01303 233883

K C PI

WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

57

Land & Property Experts

Ashurst, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent Diversified rural estate in a spectacular location Detached Grade II listed five-bedroom farmhouse Established business lets, bed and breakfast and campsite enterprises Extensive range of traditional buildings with potential for alternative uses In all about 261 acres of arable, pasture and woodland Available as a whole or in five lots

GUIDE PRICE: OIEO £3,750,000

www.btfpartnership.co.uk E heathfield@btfpartnership.co.uk T 01435 864455

58

East | Rushlake Green KentSussex | Allhallows Guide Guideprice: price£1,750,000 £1,200,000 A recently converted setsaltings in 107 acres of ring-fenced block ofGranary pasture, and marshland ideal forpasture grazingand livestock, enchanting woodland, ponds within wildfowling andAONB conservation just off the the High Weald Thames Estuary Rushlake Green: 2.4 miles, Stonegate station: 8.9 miles (London Charing Cross 1 hr 11 mins), Allhallows: 1 mile, Rochester: 10 miles, Dartford: 9.7 22 miles, 40 miles Mayfield: miles, London: South Coast: About 9 miles Open plan kitchen/living | Orangery Ring-fenced parcel of lowroom density livestock| 4 Ensuite| Environmental bedrooms | 2-Bay with room grazing andgarage conservation credentials income above | Well| Significant fenced grass fields, ponds and Sustainablemanaged wildfowling beautifully woodland About 107 394acres acres(43ha) (159 ha) in total Available whole For sale asasaawhole

National and South East Will Whittaker Estates & Farm Agency 07884 866275 07884 866275 will.whittaker@struttandparker.com will.whittaker@struttandparker.com JSA: Charlie Evans 07469 154771 07721 410238 charlie.evans@ckd.co.uk liza.howden@struttandparker.com /struttandparker @struttandparker struttandparker.com 60 Offices across England and Scotland, including prime Central London.

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET ZA899 SP South East Farmer Half.indd 1

10/08/2020 13:07

LAND AND FARMS CHICHESTER | WEST SUSSEX

GUIDE: £1,905,000 AS WHOLE OR IN LOTS

APPROX 124 ACRES / 31 ACRES

PRODUCTIVE ARABLE LAND

ON CHICHESTER PLAIN Three parcels of land with agricultural development potential on Chichester Plain have come to the market through Savills.

The productive arable land has been used to cultivate potatoes in the past, but more recently the owners have grown cereals. There is precedent in the area for the development of solar power generation and glasshouses.

Hunston Farm is about 124 acres of predominantly grade II arable land in large field sizes. This parcel of land is astride the B2145 and is surrounded on the eastern boundary by Chichester Golf Club.

There is a steel-framed grain and machinery store as well as a number of brick buildings used for storage, which are in need of modernisation.

The second parcel, Slated Barn, comprises 31 acres of predominantly arable land, with a small area of woodland, next to the village of Sidlesham. It is named after the ruined brick and flint barn that sits within the boundary.

> Slated Barn TO ADVERTISE CALL 01303 233883

59

> Hunston Farm The third block, Common Field, extends to 1.77 acres, north of Slated Barn.

Geoff Jones of Savills said: “These three parcels of productive arable land on Chichester

Plain offer significant agricultural development potential.”

The land is available as a whole, with a guide price of £1,905,000, or in lots.

P O T

K C PI

WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

LAND AND FARMS

WHAT ARE PEOPLE LOOKING

FOR FROM NEW HOMES?

60

The past few months have brought changes to us all, not least in the housing market.

In April, with the UK in coronavirus lockdown and the property market frozen, estate agent Savills predicted that house prices would fall by 5% to 10% in the short term. The consensus among experts at the time was that the number of house sales would collapse.

Yet, just a few months later, the housing market is booming. House prices in the UK hit a record high in August, according to the building society Nationwide. A total of 84,910 transactions were registered in August, compared with 82,830 in February, the month before lockdown, data from HM Revenue & Customs showed.

There have been a few helpful factors such as ultra-low interest rates, with the Bank of England cutting its base rate to a record low of 0.1% at the start of the Covid-19 crisis in March. The further changes to stamp duty have also helped fuel the sales for homeowners.

This interest from purchasers is reflected in new build properties, with housebuilders similarly noting record enquiries and reservations. For those in the industry, though, the questions are whether Covid-19 has changed what people want from a new home and how can we build homes that people want?

It is clear that the current crisis has made people think more about the space they live in, the attributes they most value in a home and, in some cases, where they want to live, all of which is likely to drive activity as we come out of lockdown.

Has Covid-19 changed perceptions?

In a survey conducted by Savills: • 62% of respondents stated that the amount of garden or outside space had become more important • 56% are more inclined to work from home more regularly (compared to 49% in April 2020) • 57% wanted a separate space in which to work from home (compared to 44% in April) • 56% of respondents felt house prices would fall in the next year but 69% thought house prices would rise over the next five years.

It is clear from enquiries that after spending months working from home, the desire for greater space has become a prerequisite for those anticipating increased home working and those with children.

Equally, the amount of outdoor space and access to greater public open space are also likely to be of greater importance to parents looking for a new home.

On average, Catesby schemes provide at least 40% public open space as well as contributions to improve cycling and walking routes. This all goes hand in hand with the Government’s emerging targets on biodiversity net gain and reducing our impact on the climate.

ROCKY ROAD AHEAD?

In terms of consumer confidence, there are a number of upcoming factors that could affect people’s desire to find new homes. These could include the end of stamp duty relief and the changes to the Help to Buy scheme, both of which come into

force in March next year. The already adverse impact of Covid-19 on the economy is also compounded by the potential impact of Brexit.

BUILD, BUILD, BUILD SAYS BORIS

It is clear that the Government wants to support house building and therefore support the economy.

The housebuilding industry generates around £38bn of economic output each year, of which around 90% stays in the UK. Every house built creates 3.1 jobs.

Therefore the importance of the house building industry is firmly in the national policy spotlight.

We have therefore seen statements from government with radical proposals for changing the planning system and ambitious new housing targets for authorities. The clear focus is on driving forward the supply of housing, tackling problems of affordability and reversing declining rates of home ownership.

The current interest in housing demonstrates that the housing crisis is still felt by a generation who feel squeezed out of the housing market. The significant push from government for more housing and the real desire for new homes to be built at a time of great economic uncertainty presents an opportunity for Catesby to provide housebuilders with ‘oven-ready’ planning permissions, de-risking the planning process for housebuilders while still maximising profit for our landowners.

It is important the industry responds to this call and aids the economic recovery as much as possible.

Could your land have development potential?

Find out more about land promotion

DAWN ADAMS

Planning Manager T: 01926 836910 E: dawna@catesbyestates.co.uk W: www.catesbyestates.co.uk

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

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All refurbishments & repairs undertaken.

Call for a free quote today.

Gary White 07812 599679 Jason White 07941 274751

CONSTRUCTION

CS982 SE Farmer Advert 60mm x 93.qxd:Layout 1

12/12/12

rn & s he s nt ut er AK ou So rm S isc Fa AM r d R e b em M

A one-stop-shop for all Profiled Roofing Products: BIGG ES T RA NGE IN THE SOUTH EAS T PROMPT AND RELIABLE SERVICE HUGE STOCKS

Call: 01342 337159 www.southernsheeting.co.uk

Hill Place Farm, Turners Hill Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 4LX

ENWARD

CLASSIFIEDS

14:1

CONSTRUCTION

FARM BUILDING REPAIRS We will continue to work through coronavirus, and we will be available to attend site and estimate customers projects and/or insurance repair/works.

We have now insisted that our employees wear suitable personal protection equipment on any such works until further notice.

LET’S KEEP WORKING!

REFURBS, BIG 6 ROOF SHEETS, ROOF LIGHTS, RIDGES, VERGES, VALLEY GUTTERS, BOX GUTTERS, BOUNDARY GUTTERS, ASBESTOS, SHEETING Single Sheet To Whole Roof Roller Shutters Accidental or Storm Damage Works Demolition Refurbishments Waste Clearances

We are available to carry out ESSENTIAL REPAIR WORKS to AGRICULTURAL LIVESTOCK/STORAGE BUILDINGS etc

SOUTH EAST CLADDING LTD Professional Services to the Agricultural, Industrial & Equestrian Sectors

CALL TO DISCUSS YOUR PROJECT!

FREEPHONE: 01233 659129

from BT land-line

MOBILE: 07813 142 145 charlie.woodger@btinternet.com

Family run business with over 45+ years of experience, from concept to completion.

Family business Family runrun business

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with over 45+45+ years of of with over years

CONSTRUCTION

experience, concept experience, from concept Steel framefrom buildings, to completion. to completion. cladding and associated works.

Steel frame buildings, Steel frame buildings, cladding andand associated cladding associated

Specialists in: works. works.

• Agricultural, Specialists in: in: equestrian & light Specialists • Agricultural, industrial buildings • Agricultural, light equestrian & light •equestrian In house&fabrication industrial buildings industrial buildings •• In Planning services house fabrication • In house fabrication available • Planning services

Kenward Construction based in Horsham, West Sussex offer a full design and build service for your next steel framed building including composite cladding, concrete panels, roller shutter doors and bespoke designs to meet individual planning conditions.

Kenward Construction also offer a wide range of services offering a truly one stop shop for your next farm building project. Demolition, plant hire, access • Planning services available roads, drainage, sewage treatment plants, rainwater harvesting, biobed wash lanesconstruction.co.uk available01323 848684 lanesbuildings@btconnect.com downs, paving, concrete foundations / slabs, walling and site landscaping. lanesconstruction.co.uk lanesbuildings@btconnect.com 01323 848684 ALL WORK ALL WORK

APPROVED APPROVED

lanesconstruction.co.uk

Arrange a site visit with one of our contracts managers to discuss your project in more detail by emailing enquiries@kenwardgroundworks.co.uk or call 01403 210218

www.kenwardgroundworks.co.uk

lanesbuildings@btconnect.com

01323 848684

To advertise in South East Farmer telephone 01303 233883

®

CONSTRUCTION

Agriculture ~ Cold Storage ~ Equestrian ~ Industrial ~ Waste Recycling • Agricultural Buildings • Cold Store Buildings • Equestrian Buildings • Industrial Buildings • Waste Recycling Buildings TO ADVERTISE CALL 01303 233883

01323 890403 www.danddconstruction.co.uk info@danddconstruction.co.uk

• Structural Steel • Drawing Services • Design Services • Mezzanine Floors • Custom Steelwork

WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

CLASSIFIEDS

CONSTRUCTION

JPR “ROOFING” & GUTTERING INSTALLATIONS LTD

SHORTLAND STRUCTURES LTD

Fully insured and licensed. 23 years family run business.

Covering all KENT & SUSSEX We will continue to work through coronavirus, and we will be available to attend site and estimate customers projects and/or insurance repair/works.

We have now insisted that our employees wear suitable personal protection equipment on any such works until further notice.

• STEEL FRAMED BUILDINGS • CLADDING • ERECTING • • EXTENSIONS • ALTERATIONS • CONCRETE PANELS • ROLLER/SLIDING/PERSONNEL DOORS • Tel: 01732 460912 Mobile: 07976 287836 Email: sales@shortlandstructures.com

www.shortlandstructures.com

To advertise in South East Farmer telephone 01303 233883

LET’S KEEP WORKING! Asbestos Sheet removal Roof & gutter repairs New roofs & cladding Refurbishments Roller shutter doors Demolition & clearance

®

CONTRACTORS

G & S BROWN

Drainage Contractors Working with farmers since 1947

● LAND DRAINAGE ● DITCHING ● POND WORK ● WATER SUPPLIES ● SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANTS ● GROUNDWORKS ● PLANT HIRE 360° EXCAVATORS

S W ATTWOOD & PARTNERS

We are available to carry out ESSENTIAL REPAIR WORKS to AGRICULTURAL LIVESTOCK/STORAGE BUILDINGS etc

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S W ATTWOOD & PAR

Contact: Chris, for a no obligation quotation: Tel: 07813 142145 or 01233 659129 (7 days)

LAND DRAINAGE

LAND DRAINAGE

www.jprmaintenance-construction.co.uk

FOR ESTIMATES & ENQUIRIES

 FIELD MAPPING  DRAINAGE SURVEYING   DESIGN  Penfold Profiles DRAINAGE

(01622) 890884

info@brownsdrainage.co.uk FIELDEmail: MAPPING www.brownsdrainage.co.uk DRAINAGE SURVEYING DESIGN SWA DRAINAGE

 

Asbestos removal S W ATTWOOD & PARTNERS FROM £220 PER ACRE LAND S W ATTWOOD &DRAINAGE PARTNERS Sheeting LAND DRAINAGE Guttering  FIELD MAPPING FROM £220 PER ACRE

SW ATTWOOD & PARTNERS

SURVEYING RA M S A DRAINAGE K

 DESIGN  Specialists in agricultural and industrial buildingsDRAINAGE M

ASBESTOS

E

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B

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FROM £220 PER ACRE GUTTERS

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Survey Aluminium liners USliners OR VISIT OUR Removal PLEASE CONTACTPVC Disposal WEBSITE: Accessories

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION SHEETING PHONE: 01795 880441 • FIELD MAPPING • DRAINAGE SURVEYING Complete buildings PLEASE CONTACT US OR VISIT OUR • DESIGN • DRAINAGE New roof EMAIL: system for james@swattwood.com conversions Repairs – Rooflights

WEBSITE:

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT JAMES OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE

www.attwoodfarms.com PHONE: 01795 880441

07864 823 476 07889 481618 penfoldprofiles@btinternet.com www.penfoldprofiles.co.uk

TOM: 01795 880441 or 07884 664035

james@swattwood.com EMAIL: james@swattwood.com  EMAIL: GRAIN STORAGE & TESTING Penfold Profiles. Lees Paddock, High Halden, Ashford, Kent LANDwww.swjfattwood.com DRAINAGE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION  PLANT HIRE OUR PLEASE CONTACT US OR VISIT DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET INERT TIPPING WEBSITE:   GRAIN STORAG

www.attwoodfarms

CLASSIFIEDS

CONTRACTORS CROP DRYING LAND DRAINAGE, EARTHWORKS, GROUNDWORKS & CONSTRUCTION FULL LAND DRAINAGE SERVICE sportsfields, amenity and irrigation systems using Mastenbroek trenchers PONDS, LAKES & RESERVOIRS construction and maintenance GROUNDWORKS & CONSTRUCTION primary excavations, aggregate sub-base, agricultural construction and concreting

ENVIRONMENTAL HABITATS water course maintenance and improvement works

Manufacturers of centrifugal, low volume and portable fans, air tunnels, drive over floors, grain stirrers and gas burners

For all enquiries call 01233 860404 07770 867625 (Harvey) or 07768 115849 (Dave)

PELLCROFT

Grubbing, timber & groundwork services • orchard grubbing

• land clearance

• windbreak removal

• excavations

• timber extraction

• cultivations

• fallen tree removal

• pond dredging

• ground contouring

• reservoir construction

W.H.Skinner & Sons

www.pellcroft.com | sales@pellcroft.com | 01526 342466

VINEYARD for viticulturists in Great Britain ™

01622 744640 - 07711 264775 www.whskinnerandsons.co.uk

The independent monthly publication dedicated FENCING to viticulture and wine making in Great Britain PHILIP JUNIPER Fencing Services

Specialists in Stock, Deer and Equestrian Fencing

SUBSCRIBE FOR ONLY

Covering the South East Tel: (01403) 700509 Mobile: 07836 219344

www.philipjuniper.co.uk

£40 A YEAR

Manufacturers of Chestnut Fencing Products Hardwood gates Cleft post and rail Stakes and posts Chestnut fencing

CWP fenci f n ng

RECEIVE YOUR COPY FIRST CLASS STRAIGHT TO YOUR DOOR

Tel: 07985298221 www.cwpfencing.co.uk

®

REACH FARMERS

To advertise in South East Farmer telephone 01303 233883 TO ADVERTISE CALL 01303 233883

@VineyardMagGB

www.vineyardmagazine.co.uk 01959 543747 WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

65

CLASSIFIEDS

INDUSTRIAL DOORS FINANCE

FARM LOANS 3 months - 25 years £10,000 - £5,000,000 Specialist help for Financial Problem cases

SUPPLY INSTALLATION MAINTENANCE SERVICE

DOORS LTD

INDUSTRIAL DOOR SERVICES Sectional doors • Roller Shutter doors • High speed doors Loading bay equipment • Personnel and Fire doors

Loans for any purpose, renovation & repairs, development, new equipment, expansion, financial settlement etc. We can lend against property - Farms, Farm Buildings, Equestrian Buildings, Bare Land & Buy-to-Lets

If it can be done - we can help!

✆ 0800 280 06 05 Brilliant Finance Ltd To advertise in South East Farmer telephone 01303 233883

Culnells Farm, School Lane, Iwade, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8QJ Fax: 01634 360955 Mobile: 07973 299664 Email: sales@yiannisdoors.co.uk

Tel: 01634 378523

PRESSURE WASHERS ®

EVENTS

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www.yiannisdoors.co.uk

HIRE SPECIALISTS ACROSS THE SOUTH EAST

SALES, SERVICE & HIRE OUT of Pressure Washers, Vacuums, Scrubber Dryers, Sweepers & Dry Steamers from the leading manufacturers!

Fully Stocked mobile engineers with full manufacturer training.

Over 45 YEARS in trading!

• Toilets & Showers for hire • Large range of Temporary canteens, stores & welfare units

TEL:01293 554750 TEL:01293

• Effluent Tank Emptying

WWW.PRESSURECLEAN.CO.UK WWW.PRESSURECLEAN.CO.UK

• Events also catered for with marquees & toilets

STORAGE TANKS

FOUR JAYS GROUP

Tel: 01622 843135 Fax: 01622 844410

KING

enquiries@fourjays.co.uk www.fourjays.co.uk

STORAGE TANKS Horizontal Cylindrical Tanks

HAULIERS

From 54,500 litres to 27,250 litres (12,000 - 6,000 gallon) Single and twin compartments, with cradles

Bunded Tanks

07860 728204 Hay & Straw Merchant | Machinery Haulage

From 27,000 litres to 10,000 litres (6,000 - 2,000 gallon) With cabinet, guage and alarm All suitable for fuel, water and effluent Call today for details

Tel 01638 712328

www.thekinggroup.co.uk/tanks

®

HAY & STRAW IN STOCK | ROUND & BIG SQUARE BALES

Find us on Facebook

To advertise in South East Farmer telephone 01303 233883

®

DECEMBER 2020 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET

CLASSIFIEDS FROM £65 To advertise in South East Farmer telephone 01303 233883

CROSSWORD ÂŽ

VINEYARDS

COMPLETE OUR CROSSWORD TO WIN One bottle of Pinot Reserve and one bottle of Ortega

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ACROSS

7

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Crossword by Rebecca Farmer, Broadstairs, Kent

PRIZE ANAGRAM: Crop disease (6,6,5,5)

To enter, simply unscramble the anagram (6,6,5,5) using the green squares.

Offence of disrespect in court (8) Propels in water (5) Reduced in length (9) Slightly drunk (5) Falsehoods (4) Grazing land (7) Flying mammal (11,3) Small bird (7) Sheep breed (5) Making clean (7) Water bird (4) Athletic event with three parts (9) Poison produced by fungus (9) Curly-leafed cabbage (4)

1 2 3 4 6 7 10 13 14 15 17 18 19 21 22

23 24

Chess piece (6) Not a single person (2,3) Consumes (4) Banner, flag (7) Stanbridge -----, rare breed duck (5) Make up (7) Eg diesel, coal, petrol (4) Platform projecting into the sea (4) Desk object (9) Unpleasant stare (4) Propel a boat with oars (3) Natural material (5) Not existing before (3) Garden bird (3) An extended spiral chain of atoms in a nucleic acid (5) Marine predator (5) Plant with bitter leaves used in salad (6)

DOWN

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LAST MONTHâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ANSWERS: 1

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VINEYARDS

As we enter another lockdown, we

to win one bottle of Pinot Reserve

address and phone number to

information about the vineyards,

draw which will take place on 2 December. The winner will be announced in the January edition.

TO ADVERTISE CALL 01303 233883

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are offering readers the chance and one bottle of Ortega. For more

Correct entries will be entered into a

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Email your replies with your name, sef.ed@kelsey.co.uk

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Correct answer: Sarcoptes scabiei

call 01580 291726. *Subject to availability

WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET | DECEMBER 2020

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TI M E FO R NEW G ROW T H

The asset finance provider for the Farming & Agricultural community in the South East.

At One Threadneedle we offer more than funds - we unlock possibilities and enable growth. We thrive on building a trusted and open relationship with our customers, ensuring we understand everything from the bigger picture, to the smallest level of detail.

To see how we could support your business contact our Field Based specialist Sean Phelan on 07887 737 549 – email sean@onetnl.com or call the office in Tunbridge Wells

onethreadneedle.com 01892 489 489 LOCAL

•

PERSONAL

21, Mount Ephraim, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN4 8AE •

F R I E N D LY

•

EXPERIENCED

•

INDEPENDENT

One Threadneedle is a credit broker, not a lender. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (839978)